The First Sin

Come....sit and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31


         "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."   Proverbs 16:18

     So you don't drink, steal, curse, or commit adultery, gamble, smoke, or lie!  Well, that is wonderful; but after all, isn't that what is to be expected of any decent person?  The fact you don't indulge in these things is no more than your duty.  Whenever I hear someone boast of his morality, I know that he is guilty of one sin he has overlooked - pride.  Pride is as great a sin as these others, in fact is at the very root of all of them.  I was surprised to find that pride is more frequently mentioned and condemned in the Word of God than adultery.  The words "pride,"  "proud,"  "proudly"  occur 106 times in the Bible, while the words "adultery,"  "adulterous,"  "adulterer,"  "adulteress"  occur only seventy times.

     The word "pride" in the original is a combination of two words,  huper, and phaino.  Huper means "above,"  and phaino means "to shine."  Pride then is the desire of a person to "shine above" his fellow men.  It is self-exaltation, in direct disregard of God's World. (See Romans 12:3).

     Pride was the first sin of the universe.  It was the sin which caused satan to fall from his high position  (read the Scriptures at the beginning of this article), and this sin satan instilled in the heart of Eve by the words,  "Ye shall be as gods"  (Genesis 3:5).  Pride is deification of self.  It always wants to be in the limelight, wants to attract attention, a conceit of one's superiority. But the Bible says:  "For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself"  (Galatians  6:3).

     So you don't drink, steal, curse, or commit adultery, gamble, smoke, or lie!  Aren't you proud of being such a fine fellow, so much better than others about you?  Don't strut, brother, for it is only God's grace in which you can glory.  Oh, God, forgive us for the subtle, fleshly sin of pride.  Amen.

"Bread For Each Day"