Death, Pride and a New Life

Welcome to the Day of Atonement

Most likely, one of the most famous scriptures connected to pride is “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 Pride is like a hidden rot to the foundation that everyone pretends is not happening, regardless of whether they are in ministry, government, or in the local school. Regardless, the presence of pride silently marches destruction a little further down the road; the end is the same, no matter how long or short the journey is.

Wonder, amazement, and joy always seem to get ground under the gears of a prideful, arrogant life by self-absorbed people. And it seems the more the potential for advancement in some areas, the richer the soil for pride to grow.

To be clear, I am not speaking of the pride that comes from a good day’s worth of work, the finishing of a project, or other such things. That is because much of this is also full of gladness and joy. But it’s when gladness has been surplanted by self-absorbed admiration, and you start believing your own press or what others say about you, even the true things.

Learning to cultivate a humble heart often requires getting off the highway of culture and planting a campfire in the still, quiet places, long-neglected spots within your soul. You know the place, the place the Holy Spirit has been waiting for you to rediscover.

Pride in a National Context

The Pride Movement has marched our culture down many bad roads. Potholes of declining birthrates, gender bender road turns, and washboard willies all stand to declare their 15 minutes of fame and anger over low-level issues that most of us would drive past.

Many of these social justice warriors are becoming the best examples of the mature fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But let’s be honest, traces of this tree’s bipolar poison are in every person on earth. Some got it real bad, others pretend they don’t, but according to scripture, we all got it.

In reality, the Social Justice Warrior (SJW) thinks they are free. But in reality, they are slaves to the twisted programming they were indoctrinated with in our schools. The only person who was ever truly free was Jesus, and his thoughts and actions were so radical that they killed him for it. That’s because the world does not like what it can not own, and it owns the Social Justice Warrior.

If you don’t like what you’re seeing unfolding everywhere with the SJWs like Antifa, BLM, and more, well, the reality is you are watching a very old fight that predates our modern era. This is because these people are highly polarized, their view is narrow, and their anger is focused. But Polarization exists in all camps, in many forms.

Jesus had to deal with polarization even among his followers. The roots of this directly link back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Through the poison of this tree, we have a divided mind, and it’s “natural” for us to see in black and white. It’s unnatural, or should I say supernatural, for us to follow the ways of the kingdom, to see what’s in between the extremes, and give grace. Often, what we see, even in Christian culture, is a quiet testimony to the fact that most Christians are living by the culture and not by the Spirit.

Breaking the Natural

For Christians in the Charismatic movement, we have our own particular battle with Pride that so few speak of. I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it, and now that I understand it better, I am a little embarrassed to say I’ve wallowed in that mess like the rest.

The hidden pride is very well tucked just out of sight, and I suspect if more realized it was there, they would run away. It’s a subtle superiority that slowly comes over the believer. A feeling of being “above” the rest. I mean, after all, we are the “spirit-filled,” are we not? And the rest of the Christians are just average, normal, garden-variety believers who have just not arrived yet. If you have been in the Charismatic movement for any length of time, I am sure you have felt it. I got news for you, that hidden superiority feeling, that’s not God.

“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6

I suspect that this is one of the big reasons we saw God kiss the revival at Asbury (Methodist) and not the main Charismatic streams. A little pride can pollute an entire movement. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” Galatians 5:9

In an effort to excel forward, climb higher, knock at the gates of heaven to get our favor and our stuff. I think we left behind the basics Jesus taught us, and now we have been gone so long from the truth. I wonder how many of us even remember what the basics are? And if we did find them, would we reject them as aliens because they are so opposite to the modern Christian culture we now know?

Willing to be broken, to embrace brokenness, is vital. For in it is a humbleness that brings death to the Christian cultural yeast that is so counter to a biblical life. To embrace brokenness is to be willing to be broken of the things of this world. Consider the craziness of this scripture, “You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions” Hebrews 10:34

Can you, at this point, imagine JOYFULLY accepting it if someone walked up and took your home from you? I tell you this, I don’t think I can, I’m just not there yet. But maybe someday we will all be??

Death

I know this post is not exactly the type of post that is meant to bring happy feelings. But still, I feel it’s the truth I think we all need. Death is a key. No, I am not talking about getting someone to kill you so that you can be a martyr. I am talking about daily living with the stuff of earth around your feet and killing pride that wants to come alongside.

There is a semi-famous quote from a guy named Spurgeon that went something like this: “ Pride is the Devil’s net in which he gathers more fish than in any other way, except procrastination.”

Ancient Christianity was well acquainted with death; it was everywhere and in many forms. So much so, God the Father wrapped much imagery around this topic. This, I feel, was a way of helping us humans to remember where we came from and how far we have fallen.

Consider this: after the fall, the Lord God created a covering of animal skins to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. So, something had to die, and then they had to wear the evidence of their actions every day, as represented through death. Later, as Moses started writing down Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, this happened on what we know as Vellum, not paper.

And this is how scripture was written for hundreds and hundreds of years on the skins of dead animals, Vellum. So when you STOOD to read the words of life in the synagogue, you had to read them from the pages of death. You could say the symbolism is that you had to stand in agreement, with death in your hands, to deliver words of life.

It is estimated that to produce enough Vellum to make the book of Exodus, one would need to kill a minimum of 12 animals. And to do a complete bible, you would need over 200 animals. That’s a lot of death so that you could read the words of life.

As we progressed to the modern age, printing presses took over, and now computers have taken over. We are becoming increasingly disconnected from the depth of that old symbolism.

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24 Yes, from time to time God does allow certain men and women who have served him to die, so that something even greater can be raised up. But I am speaking of the daily walk, the daily decisions to not only break away, but to put to death the desires of things that manipulate your soul. This is how the old, sinful ways are starved out, so that the new ones have a place to grow.

Day of Atonement

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The day when the Lord stands up and makes Judgement over the nations and people. The day when you lay things down,(Death) give them up. I have, and I know of others who have used this moment to go before the King in prayer and ask for a righteous judgment to take place in their lives. This is an opportunity for the Lord to change things or bring healing.

Essentially, you are choosing to bring death to something in your life or around you so that you can move forward in the ways the Lord intended. Is something hindering what you know needs to happen? It might be a stubborn spirit or an attitude within you or your family, giving darkness a place to hide. A righteous judgment from the Lord can change it. 2 Timothy 4:1

Don’t let this day float by unnoticed. He knows what’s best for you and how to get you to where you need to be. Have a talk with him.