Pride is one of those things we are all told not to have. However, we all have pride. In order to discuss pride, we must first know what it is. Pride is defined as “Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing and conduct; insolent exultation; disdain.”

Now that we’ve seen the definition of pride, lets look at what the Bible says about pride. According to Proverbs 8:13, God hates pride. According Proverbs 16:18, Pride goes before a fall, and according to Proverbs 29:23, Pride will bring a man low. So, pride is not a good thing, not only does God hate it, it also damages us.

Pride comes in many forms. There is the pride that says “I’m better than everyone else, so look at ME”. That is an obvious example, but there are more subtle forms of pride. Today, we’re looking more at the subtle forms of pride.

One form of subtle pride is that of being humble. Yes, humility can be pride. If you spend all your time being humble, and drawing attention to the fact that you’re humble, and thinking how great it is that you’re humble, you are no longer humble, but prideful. That is just as bad as walking around telling people how great you are. We should be humble humbly, not humble pridefully.

Another form of subtle pride is one that most Christians are guilty of, including myself. It is when you look down on other Christians because they don’t believe or do the same things you do. It’s when you see someone listening to music that you deem unworthy, and then think less of them. It’s when you or I see someone behaving in a way that you consider immature and think yourself better than they. Whether or not what they are doing is right or wrong, it’s still prideful to think yourself better then they. In God’s eyes, we are all equal, we all have sinned, and we all would be destined for hell if it weren’t for Jesus. Therefore, we should not think ourselves better or superior than other people.

What is idolization? The dictionary defines it as “to worship as a god” or “to regard with blind adoration”. The Bible states clearly that idolatry is wrong, but unfortunately the World does not seem to rid herself of her evil habits.

So, why is idolatry bad? In the book of Exodus the Lord gave his chosen people two stone tablets, each inscribed with what we know today as the “Ten Commandments”. The second commandment states:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.” – Exodus 20:4-6

Wait. People don’t fall down and worship statues anymore, so how does this apply to the modern World?

Merriam-Webster defines the word “idol” as “a representation or symbol of an object of worship”. When God set forth that commandment He meant it to apply to everything (hence: anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below), not just metal figurines in the figure of false gods.

To commit idolatry you only have to replace the center of your life with something other than God. In fact, if you take a step back and look at America’s economy, an alarming percentage of it is fueled by idolatry:

• Teen Idols
• Models
• Singers/Bands
• Superheroes
• Movie Stars (TV Show Stars)
• Books, Magazines, Comics
• And the list goes on…

Scary thought, isn’t it?

Individually none of these are wrong. They are a great source of entertainment and amusement. However, when interest turns into obsession there is a problem. As Christian’s God should be the center of our lives. Not a Band or a TV Show. Becoming infatuated with the material items of this world serves only to distract us from what really matters.

Be strong. You have the Creator of the Universe as your ally!

How will other people know that we are Christians?  Being a Christian is a lot more than just going to church, and telling someone that we are a Christian.

The first way that people can see that we are Christians is by our actions. The old saying that “actions speak louder than words” is very true. If we say that we are Christian, but we are mean to people, use bad language, or hurtful with our words, people will not believe that we are Christians, and our witness will be hurt or destroyed. Consequently, we should make sure that our actions are Christ-like.

Another way that people can see that we are Christians is the way we treat other people. Christians are told to love their enemies. If we do not have a loving attitude to people, it destroys our witness, and makes us look hypocritical. Now, being loving doesn’t mean that we ignore sin. We are told to love the sinner, but hate the sin.

The third and final way that they can see that we are Christians, is how we treat other Christians. So many times, people see churches get torn apart over the littlest matters. That hurts peoples perspectives of Christians, and every time people see us bickering over minor things, it just makes us look even worse.

It’s important to not only tell people that we are Christians, but to live a life that backs up what we say.