If you weren't already covicted of pride in your life...

I have been slowly processing Paul Tripp's book Do You Believe? in recent months. On the whole, I have found it very helpful and insightful, as I usually do with his writings and teachings. In his chapter on the doctrine of justification, he lays out our need for humility and spends three-quarters of a page laying out short, hard-hitting one-liners on how pride affects us and what it produces in our lives. It's not fun to feel alone when convicted...so I thought I would share it in today's sermon, and here in case you missed it :)

Pride never produces a willingness to forgive.

Pride makes you judgmental and condemning.

Pride makes you far more concerned about the sin of others than you are about your own.

Pride is the enemy of self-sacrificing love.

Pride makes you picky and easily irritated.

Pride forces you to deny your wrongs and to shift blame to someone or something else.

Pride makes it easier for you to complain than to give thanks.

Proud people don’t tend to be peacemakers.

Proud people don’t suffer well.

Proud people don’t tend to be generous.

Proud people tend to think they deserve what is comfortable and tend to hate what is difficult.

Proud people envy the blessings of others.

Proud people resist confession and are defensive when confronted.

Proud people find winning more attractive than loving.

Proud people are better at division than unity and create more enemies than friends.

Proud people are always keeping score and tend to hold on to wrongs.

Proud people thrive on being noticed, getting respect, and receiving acclaim.

Proud people tend to see themselves as deserving the spotlight and thrive when on center stage.

Proud people take credit for what they couldn’t have produced on their own.

Proud people demand loyalty, but will forsake you when they are not getting what they want from you.

Proud people have to be right and need to be in control.

James 4:6 "...God opposes the proud but gives gace to the humble."

As I've studied this week, I am convinced that pride is one of the greatest enemies of walking in humble belief, and a lack of belief is the reason we lack power in the Christian life. I think this is why, after miraculously feeding five thousand people, Jesus whittled down what the core work of his followers is,

John 6:29 "Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

One last thing. This is my own, not Paul Tripp's...

Proud people read lists about proud people and wish all the proud people in their lives would read the list, and are proud of the fact that they don't need such lists since they are so humble.

As I said, conviction loves company.

"Lord, save me from myself." - Jon Foreman