Pride | Healthy Habit Killers
John Mitcham   -   March 9, 2025

Healthy Habit Killers: 

PRIDE

Pride is the root cause of all alienation towards God and others.

St Augustine and St. Thomas one of the SEVEN DEADLY SINS

“pride is the root of all sin” (St. Thomas Aquinus)

Isaiah 14:12-15 NIV 12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!  You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!   13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds: I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

Prince of the power of the air … the god of this world

2 Cor 4:3-4 NASU  3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving

1 Peter 5:5 NKJV  God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble 

Phil 2:5-11 NIV  5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

SOUL TATTOO  Pride separates.  Humility integrates.

James 4:6 NKJV   God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

HOW PRIDE MANIFESTS ITSELF IN OUR LIVES

  1. Overconfidence in abilities
  2. Judgment of others
  3. Defensiveness
  4. Seeking the spotlight
  5. Struggle with forgiveness

SELF EXAMINATION

  • Difficulty in admitting faults
  • Constant need for recognition  
  • Dismissive of other’s opinions
  • Focus on comparison 

ACTION STEPS TO CONTROL PRIDE

  1. Acknowledge the reality of pride as a part of our fallen nature.
  2. Begin a daily prayer for humility (Phil. 2:3-5)
  3. Practice gratitude (3 things each day you are grateful to God for)
  4. Memorize Prov. 16:18 NKJV  Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. 
  5. Flick off the stink bug.