Shame Comes With Pride
Unfortunately, in America we do not think about shame very much. It was a big part of the Asian culture of the people in the Bible. Solomon gave us a warning in Proverbs 11:2 that we all need to hear, but especially those of us from a western culture, When pride comes, shame comes with it. Think about that with me.
We saw yesterday that God hates pride. Why does God hate pride? It is because pride is connected to many sins. Many times, the sins we commit when we are acting in pride bring shame on us or on our families. In pride we may refuse to forgive another person. This brings shame on us when we fail to do God's will, and we become bitter which makes it all mush worse, bringing more shame. We may make selfish decisions because of pride, and the results could bring shame because others will be able to see that we are acting in a dishonorable way. Pride can even cause us to do nothing, when we should help others, because we feel better than they are, or we just don't care. Shame is terrible. We need to have it more in our society, because it deters sin.
The opposite of pride is humility. When we are humble, we act in wisdom. Why is that? We are not acting selfishly, but we are thinking of God's will and the needs of others. We treat others well. We do God's will. We do not complain or get bitter. Instead of bringing shame on us or our family, we bring honor, when people see our wisdom and our righteous actions. Unfortunately again, humility is not a strong part of our western culture either. Therefore, to do God's will we have to be different. This is hard for many people, but there is no other way to please the Lord and do His will.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Proverbs 12-14.
We saw yesterday that God hates pride. Why does God hate pride? It is because pride is connected to many sins. Many times, the sins we commit when we are acting in pride bring shame on us or on our families. In pride we may refuse to forgive another person. This brings shame on us when we fail to do God's will, and we become bitter which makes it all mush worse, bringing more shame. We may make selfish decisions because of pride, and the results could bring shame because others will be able to see that we are acting in a dishonorable way. Pride can even cause us to do nothing, when we should help others, because we feel better than they are, or we just don't care. Shame is terrible. We need to have it more in our society, because it deters sin.
The opposite of pride is humility. When we are humble, we act in wisdom. Why is that? We are not acting selfishly, but we are thinking of God's will and the needs of others. We treat others well. We do God's will. We do not complain or get bitter. Instead of bringing shame on us or our family, we bring honor, when people see our wisdom and our righteous actions. Unfortunately again, humility is not a strong part of our western culture either. Therefore, to do God's will we have to be different. This is hard for many people, but there is no other way to please the Lord and do His will.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Proverbs 12-14.