Growing up, people told me to hold my head high and be proud. Pride to me meant I was strong. It meant I was capable. Pride meant that I would never need anyone or anything. You see, I thought pride was my key to success. Well, I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Open your Bible. You don’t have to read far to find stories of pride and the pain it caused. Pride is the reason Lucifer fell and Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Because of pride, Cain killed Abel, and the Israelites wandered around the desert for 40 years. And that was just the beginning.

Proverbs 16:5 tells us that God hates pride. But why? Thankfully, God doesn’t keep us in the dark; He lets us know exactly why He hates pride. Here are 4 of those reasons.

PRIDE LEADS TO ARGUMENTS

 “Pride leads to arguments” Proverbs 13:10a

Can I say ouch?!   I don’t know about you, but I like to argue, and I’m not fond of losing. I used to argue just for the sake of winning even when I knew I was wrong. Have you ever been in an argument with someone, maybe your spouse, and as the debate continues, you realize that what the other person is saying is true? But you know if you admit that it is true, you will lose the argument. Still, you can’t seem to admit you’re wrong. You can’t lose. You have to be strong. So you try another approach. You focus on another point, trying to confuse the enemy. Did I say, enemy? Yes, at this point, your spouse or whoever you are arguing with is the enemy, and the enemy must lose. That is PRIDE.

Pride is nasty. Pride chokes relationships like weeds choke a garden until those things we planted no longer have room to grow.   Pride leads to arguments and kills relationships.

PRIDE KEEPS YOU FROM SAYING YOUR SORRY

 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23

Does anyone else have trouble apologizing? What about being the first to apologize? Remember the argument that you had to win? Remember what you did and said to win it? Once the argument is over, you start feeling bad. You know you were wrong. But you don’t want to apologize because apologizing means that you have to ADMIT you were wrong. PRIDE keeps you from apologizing and not apologizing damages and can destroy relationships.

PRIDE MAKES YOU STUBBORN

“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.” Jeremiah 7:24

Others used to say I was stubborn as if that was a good thing. But you see, stubborn people don’t listen to others’ counsel because they don’t value other people’s opinions. Stubborn people think they know more than others, know best, and don’t need anyone’s advice. They ignore wise counsel. That is PRIDE.

Refusing to listen to others because you think you know best can keep you from walking out God’s purpose for your life: it can cause you to go backward and not forward. How would the Israelite’s destiny have changed if they had listened to God’s wise counsel sent to them?

What about you? Has there ever been a time when you have ignored wise counsel and wished you hadn’t? Have you ever said, I wished I would have listened? I don’t know about you, but I want to go forward and not backward. I want all that God has for me. I don’t want to miss my promised land.

PRIDE KEEPS YOU FROM SEEKING GOD

 In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. – Psalm 10:4 NIV

Yes, that is the big one. Pride keeps us from seeking God. I know that was the case for me. I was strong. I was capable. I didn’t need anyone, and I certainly didn’t need God. I thought that those who sought after God were weak. I thought that they were incapable. I thought God was for those with problems, not for people like me. That is PRIDE.

Pride keeps us from seeking God and fulfilling our God-given destinies.

GOD DESPISES PRIDE

Can you see why God despises pride?   Pride destroys our earthly relationships and our relationship with the one and only God, our Father. Every day people’s hearts are hardened to God because of pride. People think they do not need God; therefore, they do not seek Him.  When people do not seek God, they do not know God, and when they do not know God, they miss out on all God has to offer. God despises pride!

So friends, today, if you hear God’s voice as you are reading this, do not harden your hearts as you have in the past, but instead listen to the wise counsel of the Word of God, turn from your pride, and walk out God’s purpose for your life.