Pride Sucks

As I have been growing more and more in the Lord and experiencing him, a curious thing has popped up: pride. Obviously pride is always sneaking around, creeping up here and there, but I noticed it much more recently. I am not surprised this has happened, because as soon as things start going well our natural inclination is to start to get big headed and think we are hot stuff. Stupidly, we turn our focus off of the one who is the source of all good things in our life and start to think we ourselves should get the credit. This has happened in a couple of areas: one, with this blog, there is a temptation to just write something so that I will look good or appear like I'm learning a lot. Also, after God used me in leading worship the past two weeks, I found myself starting to think I was pretty hot stuff, that it was my own voice, my own ability which made it go well. Ridiculous. And there are many other examples. As soon as we start growing in the Lord more and more, either our eyes start being opened to our pride or we see the good things that are happening and naturally start looking inward at ourselves for the credit instead of to God. Or both. Pride. Something to be aware of. The Word says that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The first words out of Jesus' mouth in the sermon on the mount: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Being humble enough to realize your need for Christ, to turn to him for strength and sustenance, not to yourself. To be poor in your spirit so that you can be rich in His.