THE DECEPTIVE SIDE OF PRIDE - Proverbs 16:18

"Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." The title may sound a bit odd but, after some thought, you will see how it makes sense. Pride is deadly because it is deceitful. We often think pride is the sense of believing that we are better than or above others. It does mean that because it cannot mean less than that. However, there is another side of pride that is less clear to most and is often the side that dismantles us. This "less clear" and very deceptive side of pride is the sense, even the resolve, of not needing others. Of not allowing others get close to us - the real us, the us we are often desperate to hide out of plain sight. This deceptive side of pride is true of us when we choose (or prefer) isolation, believing that we, alone, are sufficient to and for ourselves. This the pride that the devil uses and trips so many of us up. We may be spiritually refined enough to know that thinking we are better than others is evil and so, even if we think it, we dare not say it or act on it. Yet, choosing to be alone and disconnected in meaningful ways with other believers is believing that we are not vulnerable by ourselves and can withstand whatever comes to us. I have seen the carnage of such thinking. I have, myself, experienced it! I implore you to not only kill the belief of superiority, but to analyze your soul for traces of isolationism. The ism's are always a problem! But here is the point: Don't act like, think or give in to the deceitfulness that you don't need others in your life to live full and fruitful for the Lord; to battle against the schemes of the devil. It is true that the devil attacks individuals but it is doubly true that no individual, alone, can withstand him. Many have fallen and are spiritually bankrupt because they moved away from community and brotherhood. Alone we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are strong but, in truth, we are weak and vulnerable - open prey for the devil in our minds, hearts and our bodies. A jackal is no match for the lion. But a bunch of jackals will route a lion. The devil is a lion seeking whom he may devour. Who is that? Who is the one he is seeking to devour? They are the ones who believe that, alone, they are strong. They are the ones who have succumb to this deceptive side of pride. What about you? Are you infected with this deceptive side of pride? Here is my challenge to the people of God everywhere: work harder at being authentically, and weekly, in another's life and journey with Jesus, adding value and enlisting in their battles. When you do this, here is the key: Let them in too!