Love does not boast. Pride and boasting originate from the flesh. A heart submitted to God will not be proud, it will not elevate itself, it will not seek human recognition above God’s approval, it will not be puffed up. Love is not egotistical, it is not arrogant, it does not brag, it is not conceited. Love is not vain, it does not vaunt, it is not insolent, it is not rash, it is not perverse, it is not rude, it is not self-assertive.
A proud person has themselves on the throne, they want to satisfy their fleshly desires, they use people to feel good about themselves. A proud person does not love others. Pride seeks to be validated, to be recognized, to be seen as better, to be praised. A person who is prideful rarely apologizes, they will argue their way out of any situation and avoid taking responsibility for their words and actions, some of them even turn abusive.
Proud people try to maintain their external image at all costs.
Pride is self-exaltation; it means that such a person has no fear of God. Pride is one of the most destructive vices and sin a person can engage in. Pride is defined as “a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.”
A proud person is satisfied with self. God hates pride.
The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:5.
Pride is sin, it is evil in God’s eyes, a haughty spirit is detestable. We should never forget that we are not in control, only God is in control. We do not know what tomorrow holds. We should live our lives with reverential fear of God. We should never seek vainglory. All glory and honor go back to God. We are created beings, in the hands of our Creator, He holds all the power. Knowing that we have no control of our tomorrow nor of the next second should be enough to keep us humble. The creation should never exalt themselves above the Creator.
The Bible tells us that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Satan is a fallen angel because of pride.
The rich fool who had stored up treasures for himself was told by God, “You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?” Luke 12:20.
We are not self-sufficient, we are not self-sustaining, we do not own our lives; everything we are and everything we own is from God. When we love God, we fear Him, we honor Him, we give Him all the honor, glory, and praise, we humble ourselves before Him; we tell God that without Him we are not, we tell Him that we need Him, we tell Him that we do not want to do anything or go anywhere without Him – we have reverential fear of God.
When we love God, we obey His commandments. In the same way, a person who says they love you will be humble, they will respect you, they will not be rude to you, they will treat you with dignity; anything that does not align with God’s standards is not love.
The Bible tells us that the lowly in spirit gain honor and that the Lord looks kindly on the lowly. We should never think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We should strive to live in harmony with each other, we should be quick to apologize and repent when we sin, we should treat each other with respect and dignity – irrespective of our achievements in this life. We are to love each other.
When we spend time with God, He teaches us what true love is. Jesus Christ did not exalt Himself, He served humanity with humility, yet He is God. He demonstrated His love for us by dying on the cross for our sins even when we were still sinners.
Love does not boast or exalt itself.
Before downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 18:12.
Blessings.
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