Pride & Grace

In the Garden, Adam and Eve were given the greatest gift of all creation, the ability to freely love as God loves; the freedom to choose or reject God.  Manifested in a fruit bearing tree, God offered Adam and Eve the blessing of intimately knowing the very love of God.  However, Adam and Eve squandered this precious gift, misusing their free will.  Rather than participating in the very love of God, Adam and Eve choose to usurp Him.  As a result, the image of God, was distorted.  Wesley noted that the image of the devil was stamped in its place, an image marked by pride and self-will.  Wesley understood sin to be self idolatry.  Pride and selfishness were its distinguishing marks.  Eve’s sin was that of self-love, self-idolatry, and self-pride.  

While there is freedom from this disposition, by God’s sanctifying grace.  There is a sense in which this is the infirmity that besets all humanity.  Even though I can know the full salvation of Jesus in my life, there is a sense in which I must always be mindful of the tendency of falling back into pride.  It does not take much, a simple compliment, a good sermon, a successful ministry program.  The pride of life is rooted in that “garden-desire” to be my own God.  Pride is an attitude toward life that affirms my own self-sufficiency.  Pride tells me that I do not have to trust in God.  Pride refuses to embrace grace.  Like the prodigal’s brother, pride says that I have done all the right things, I deserve good treatment.  Pride is an attitude I posses that doggedly distorts the reality of my fallenness, and suggests that I can climb out of the hole of my sin, or at least I can earn God’s helping hand.  

My pride desires to neutralize grace and regard it as earned favor from God.  Pride is the essential attitude of the fall, wherever there is breath on this earth, there is the danger of pride.  I must be aware of its curious evils, mindful of it insipid deceitfulness, and reject it.  I must be laid low before God, and with volitional intent, depend completely upon his grace.  It is my only hope, my only help.  If I cannot receive grace, I will never offer it, or rejoice in its presence in the world.  Rather, everywhere grace abounds will be a miserable place for me.  In that God’s grace abounds in every part of life, the whole of life would be misery.  I must receive his grace, which means that I must reject pride in every part of life.