I've been reading a book called Battling Unbeleif which is a book about battling certain sins. Its written by John Piper and it is basically a snipet of a bigger book called Future Grace also written by John Piper. Today I was reading about the different kinds of Pride and Anxiousness and how to kill the sin.
What is Pride?
What is Pride?
Pride is the opposite of humility. Pride is when we neglect God and the runner-up god takes Gods place namely us humans. The world we live in is very hostile to humility. The place that you would probably and normally see humility applauded is with God. Where God is humility follows. John Piper says that humility is like a shadow. When God goes humility goes too. So knowing that our world today does not give a pat on the back to humility very often shows that we are living in a world hostile to humility.
People tend to boast in three main things.
- Their Might
- Their Wisdom
- Their Riches
Each one of these things is a competitor in our hearts against God. They are all calling us to take satisfaction in ourselves. They all tempt us into thinking that God isnt the ultimate satisfaction and that we can find more happiness in ourselves which is very very wrong, but to admit that your satisfaction and source of joy comes from an outside being would be have to be radically humbling.
So how do we kill these sins?
Answer: We cannot kill any of these sins by ourselves. The cure to these sins and any other sins are faith in future grace. Faith that the almighty God of the universe has caught you in his grace and will keep sustaining you for the rest of time through the Cross. We have faith in this future grace and find our satisfaction in his promises of future grace(Isaiah 41:10, Romans 8:28, Matthew 28:20, Luke 12:32,Psalm 23:6,Psalm84:11, Philippians 4:19) rather than the lies of sin.
Boasting and Self-Pity
These are both manifestations of pride. Boasting is the response of being prideful in one's success.Self-Pity is the response of being prideful in one's suffering. Boasting sounds self-sufficient, Self-Pity sounds self-sacrificing. The reason I mention this is because you must be very discerning around self-pity. Self-pity doesnt come from unworthiness. It comes from unrecognized unworthiness.
Anxiety is a camoflauged Pride.
How is anxiety a form of pride?In Isaiah 51:12-13 God says "I, even I, am He who comforts you Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies And of the son of man who is made like grass, That you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth, That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, As he makes ready to destroy? But where is the fury of the oppressor?" So what does this have to do with anxiety being pride? God is rebuking Israel for their fear of man. He is saying that their fear of man is an anxiety that is a form of pride because it shows that you dont have trust the God who laid the foundations of the Universe with your life,but rather trust your protection to yourself even though you know that you cant control the future. You would rather trust in your fragile self rather than the sturdy future grace of God.
So what is a practical way of getting rid of this anxiousness?
How can I humble myself and rid myself of this pride?
Peter gives an answer in 1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." John Piper says notice the grammatical cconnection between veres 6 and 7. " Humble yourselves...under the mighty hand of God...casting all your anxieties on him." Verse 7 was not a new sentence it was a subordinate clause. "Humble yourselves...[by]casting all your anxieties on him" So a way to humble yourself is by giving your worries away to God,by having trust in the future grace of God.
Faith and Pride
Our pride will not want to admit that the remedy is trusting in someone who is wiser and stronger. Or in other words pride is a form of unbeleif and will not want to trust in future grace. Faith admits the need of help. Pride will not. Faith will ask God to give help. Pride will not. Faith casts anxieties on the Almighty life giving God. Pride will not. So the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish tthe promise of future grace.
Our pride is conquered when we not only crucify ourselves to the cross but fall in awe of God's incredible love and future grace.
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