Is Pride the Number One Sin?

"You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty." ~ Psa. 18:27(NIV)

I didn't want to state the title as a matter of fact; but from a personal Bible study on the matter, I'm beginning to see that pride is the nucleus of all other sins. That's a no-brainer for things such as vanity and greed, but I believe it leads to other transgressions as well. The reason I say that it's perhaps the number one sin is because it throws up a brick wall and won't let God in at all. Pride is a very anti-God mindset. It says that we are our own god and can do no wrong. You simply cannot have a relationship with God with your pride acting as bouncer at the entrance of your heart. It makes it impossible to be humble enough to acknowledge wrongdoing, so it's also a hindrance to repentance because you must die to self before you can live for Christ.

This pride I'm speaking of is not in the spirit of you're being proud of your family's or your own accomplishments. We can be "happy" in that sense without being too full of ourselves. Of course you are proud of your families or your own accomplishments. It's when people come to think of themselves as invincible that they're treading on thin ice with God. That's dangerous pride. That takes you back to the little "g" god thing. We can become idolatrous to the person in the mirror. I think about the rich farmer. He was very self-satisfied and didn't give God the glory for his bumper crop (Luk. 12: 16-21). In every sentence of the parable where the man is speaking he's saying, "I" or "my." However, in verse 20 God speaks and he says, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Verse 21 follows with, "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself and is not rich toward God." Likewise, in Acts 12: 23, King Herod failed to give God the praise when he delivered a successful speech and he fell dead and was eaten by worms. You might say he was rotten from the inside out. That's what pride does. It's spiritual cancer.

Pride keeps a record of checks and balances. The more pride one has, the more he or she detests it in others. It is very competitive with everyone else's pride and it is insatiable as well. It derives no pleasure from acquiring or having nice things or having done well at something. It wants to do more and better than the next person. It's not enough to be smart, wealthy, pretty, or good-looking. You've got to be more of all those things than the next person. In that respect, pride should be too frustrating to maintain. Pride is a power thing--to feel superior to others. It creates a feeling of hostility or animosity not just between people, but between man and God as well. Think about it. If one is always looking down their nose at others, they cannot cast their eyes up towards Him.

There is only one place in the Bible where pride is mentioned in a positive manner. In Galatians 6: 4 it says, "Each should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to someone else, for each should carry his own load." That is about pride in a job well done.

Love Ya,
God Bless!