The Subtle Danger of Spiritual Pride

The Subtle Danger of Spiritual Pride
“I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.”
3 John 9-15
Pride is perhaps the most prevalent and destructive sin that we struggle with.  In our sinful nature, we love to elevate ourselves and receive the praise of people.  Of all the sins, it is the one that is the most often condemned in the Scripture.  What makes pride so destructive is that the proud seek to elevate themselves above others and prevent them from seeking God.  Pride blinds us from our weakness, so we no longer see our need for God and His gracious work in our lives.

Diotrephes was gripped by pride.  The first hint that he was focused on himself rather than surrendered to God is found in his name.  Those raised in a Greek home were often given the name of the Greek gods.  Diotrephes  reflects this tradition, for his name means “nurtured by Zeus.”  Because of this association with the Greek gods, when a person accepted the message of Christ, they would change their name to reflect their new spiritual identity.  

However, Diotrephes chose to keep his Greek name.  Diotrephes loved the attention and recognition of others. He wanted to be in a position of power and authority.  It is not wrong to desire to be a leader in the church.  When Paul writes to Timothy, he commends those who aspire to be an overseer (1 Timothy 3:1).  However, for Diotrephes, this desire was not governed by a heart of service but an attitude of pride.  Because of his pride, he did not want to share his power with anyone else.  As a result, he refused to listen to the apostles' teachings or the teachings of others. When itinerant missionaries visited the church, he refused to extend fellowship and rejected their instruction. Instead, he sought to elevate himself by criticizing them and undermining their ministry. His actions revealed that he was not a genuine disciple of Christ.  

When pride grips our lives, we become self-sufficient and self-absorbed.  We put down others to elevate ourselves.  We reject those who challenge our faith.  Instead of seeking the transformation of Christ, we become self-righteous by believing that we do not need others. It is no wonder that pride is one of the sins most often condemned with the strongest possible language.  In James 4:6, we read that God opposes the proud.  Instead of being the object of God’s love and grace, they become the object of his anger.  

Pride is more than elevating ourselves above others; it involves a lack of recognition of our need for God.  It separates us from God and prevents us from relying upon God for our life.  Pride is the attitude that “I can handle life myself and do not need God’s activity.”  It results in self-sufficiency rather than complete surrender and submission to Christ. Pride prevents us from becoming a servant to others, for it places ourselves above others (Phil. 2:3). Pride is subtle, for it is self-deceptive.  It hides behind self-righteousness so that we fail to see our need for change. It is the one sin that refuses to recognize the presence of sin in our life.
In Psalms 139:23-24, the Psalmist asks that God would examine his heart to see if there is any sin present in his life.  The greatest danger of pride is that the more we mature in Christ, the greater the danger that it can gain a foothold in our lives.  

The first step to dealing with pride is acknowledging that we need God’s grace to reveal its insidious presence.  Spiritual growth and transformation begin with the humble recognition that we cannot achieve growth apart from God’s activity and work.  It is to admit that we cannot attain holiness before God in ourselves, that we are sinful by birth and by choice and in need of God’s grace.  Humility begins by accepting the authority and message of the Bible so that we might be changed. Today, pray that God would reveal your sins to you and then ask God to transform you by His Word and ask Him to remove the heart of pride and give you a heart of humility.