Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground. – The Bible (NLT)
God had ordained and anointed Lucifer (meaning morning star) as an angelic Guardian. He was a model of perfection. He was created as a blameless angel. Lucifer had access to God’s presence. Alas, one day Lucifer was so filled with pride because of his beauty, wisdom, and splendor. He climbed into God’s presence and wanted to be above God who created him. Out of his pride, Lucifer wanted to set his throne above God’s throne. He was banished and expelled from God’s presence and pushed down. Very first disobedience against God started with Lucifer’s pride. Thus the pride became the universal source and beginning of all evil.
Lucifer fell down from his glory with a vengeance to fight against God. He started waging war and persecuting those who love God and follow Him. The fallen angel Lucifer was called as Satan (meaning accuser or opponent)
The Source of Evil
Then God created mankind and loved them as His own child. He named the first man and wife as Adam and Eve. They became the rulers of the earth. God spoke to them every day. Satan knew God’s loved mankind. He wanted to hurt God and break the relationship. He lied to Eve, “if you eat the fruit God has forbidden you to eat your eyes will be open and you will become like God himself”. Satan injected His pride into the heart of Eve because he knew God hates the pride and he will have to judge Eve the same way He had judged Satan. So the pride of Satan was injected both to Adam and Eve, who are the forefathers of all mankind.
We inherited the same pride from Adam and Eve. We apply pride against God and also against the same pride with our fellow brothers and sisters. The Bible says, “God hates the pride but gives grace to the humble”. Satan knew this as he experienced God’s hatred directly first hand.
Often people ask why God allowed evil in the world. The Bible says “God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good”. God did not create evil. He created the world with abundance. When the pride came, we felt we are better than others; we wanted to possess more than others; we greedily store for ourselves more than we need; The nature of mankind changed forever. It resulted in possessiveness, anger, stealing, cheating, arguments within our family members, parents, relatives, and friends. The pride also became the source of wars and conflicts around the world. Thus pride became the source of all evil.
How did God solve the problem of pride?
The opposite of pride is humbleness. God came up with an antidote for pride through his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus humbled himself and came to this earth as a man. Though He had all authority on earth and in heaven, Jesus did not execute his authority against any man. But he came to serve with all humility. The heart of Jesus overflew with compassion whenever He saw people with affliction. He healed the sick and freed the men from bondages. On the last night before Romans crucified him, Jesus’s disciples were arguing who is the biggest among them. Jesus saw their pride and wanted to show them who is the biggest of all. He took the basin filled with water and washed every one of his disciple’s feet. In Jewish culture, only slaves wash the feet of guests. Jesus did not hesitate to take up the role of a slave, even though He is God. When the soldiers arrested him and beaten him Jesus never opened this mouth. He willingly submitted his life on the cross. He conquered human pride through humility. The source of all evil is pride, the source of all goodness is humility. God came to the world to reveal the truth about how to make this world a better place.
How do we take away our pride?
How do we take away our pride we inherited from our forefathers and cultivate the habit of humbleness? We know it is easier said than done. We are naturally proud of our many things. We think we’re better than others in so many ways.
Jesus showed how to lead a humble life. Not only he wants to help us lead a humble life. The Bible says whoever is in Christ becomes a new creation. God wants to give us a humble heart so we can thank God for all the good things he has given to us. We came into this world empty-handed and we are we ought to leave empty-handed one day.
Dear friend, do you want a humble heart? Jesus wants to give you a new beginning. Jesus wants to help you today. Shall we pray together to Jesus to change our life?
Dear Jesus, I have so much pride. I have hurt many people in my life. Please forgive me. I want my life to be changed. Give me a humble heart. I don’t want to be proud anymore. Help me change my life. Please wash my past mistakes. I humble myself and come before you. I’m so sorry for what I have done. Please forgive me once again. Change my life. Jesus, I want to be your child. Please hold my hand and walk with me. Thank you for forgiving my past mistakes. Thank you, Jesus. I pray in Jesus’s mighty name. Amen.
Dear friend, Jesus loves you, and He cares for you. He wants to bless you and make you a blessing for many.