The Deception of Spiritual Pride

Last updated on: May 21, 2019 at 2:07 pm by Paul Bane

The Deception of Spiritual Pride 2019-05-21T14:07:29-06:00 Paul Bane

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The danger of religion is we can begin to judge everybody who’s not like us and believe we are the only ones who possess the truth. The deception of spiritual pride is it produces a false spirituality based on a puffed up perception of our ego and the high opinion of ourselves in comparison to other people.

Spiritual pride can be subtle, when I grew up, there was a church on nearly every corner, and most of them believed they were doing Gods will. However, when we take the time to look past the name over the front entrance, we recognize most of the time we attend a place of worship where everybody looks like us, acts like us and believes like us. The church around the corner was not our enemy they just weren’t quite as good as us.

If our prayers and walk with God do not change us for the better and influence us to love others, then there is little hope for humanity. If my praying causes me to see myself as superior to others, my prayers are in vain. When I seek to gain power over others or to manipulate them for personal gain I need to be careful. (I am a Pharisee!) Jesus had strong words for those that lead others astray. “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” Luke 17:2 NIV

For positive transformation to occur in our lives, we must learn how to recognize and understand the deception that lurks in our hearts and to be aware of the false pride that is present in each of us.

Jesus is restoring us to our true identity, where we die to our self-will and deception. When we can honestly take a look at our life and understand the depths of our unwillingness to get along with each other, there is a glimmer of hope. Once we do that, then we have the confidence that we as a people are being transformed into the body and image of Christ.

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