There was the day when we were all sinners, "There is none righteous, no, not one"(Romans 3:10; KJV 1900) and this my friends, we should not forget!!! Though the LORD forgives and forgets the life of sin we've lived, let us not. For when we do there is the chance that within our hearts we will begin thinking of ourselves as better than those around us. Placing ourselves upon a pedestal above all the immoral sinners of this dying world. When it was right there at the base of that pedestal, that we too used to live.
Pride, is the original sin, it is that which set satan up for the fall, the very one that took down Adam and Eve and has brought mankind to the need for salvation. It is the pride of man that placed JESUS upon the cross and it is one of satan's greatest tools against us!!!
For at the moment of salvation we're broken and contrite(or we should be), we humble ourselves before the LORD in our need of HIS forgiveness. An unless humility rules within afterwards, that very pride that placed us in need of a SAVIOR can and will begin to grow, unless carefully(very carefully) watched. A while back in one of the devotionals, Spurgeon stated "In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that(step), if grace be absent), and down we go." The Pharisee and Sadducee traveled a road of religious pride, much like many Christians today and it was them that JESUS condemned so richly!!!
During my walk to south Texas, many to which I spoke, said that it was the hypocrisy within the church that kept them from going(the number 2 reason) to church. Truly it should be plain to see that anywhere you've Christian gathered, we see pride also. We see it all the time, though we may overlook it for the most part. Maybe because it has become so ingrained within our lives and the lives of those around us that we just accept it. I don't know, but I do know, it is leading many to a fall.
Let us each remember, and remember well, from where the LORD saved us, or we could say from "whom," for it was our own pride that took us there. Those very sinners that we tend to look down upon, are the very ones that JESUS died for. Remember, we were each there at one time ourselves!!! :{)))
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
