The PassionSample

Pride is a great way to cover up our faults, fears, insecurities, and imperfections. When we’re not good enough, not strong enough, not integrous enough to follow through on our promises, how do we avoid being exposed? Loopholes and excuses!

We’ve seen the Pharisees' pride prevent them from acknowledging Jesus' true identity, from helping their brothers and sisters understand God’s ways, and from leading new believers into the kingdom. Now we see it preventing them from honouring commitments they have made to others and God. In their pride, they want to say they’d do something grand—like promising acts of generosity or self-sacrifice. But when it comes to actually doing what they say, they make excuses.

In Matthew 6, Jesus has already told us that in His Kingdom, we need to be people of our word. If we ignore this call, there will be serious consequences. No matter what we swear by to authenticate our promises, we are swearing by something the God of the universe has made, and He sees and hears all. In Acts 5, we see a chilling example of this: Ananias and Sapphira promise to give the proceeds of their land sale to the church, but they secretly keep some of the money back. Peter speaks on God’s behalf, revealing that they have not lied to people but to God. The consequence is death.

Those who belong to Christ must not pridefully make grandiose promises. So often we say we will do more than we can. We are not perfect or all-powerful. We are finite. And while we might sometimes be able to trick people into thinking we’re better than we are, we can’t trick God. He knows our true motives better than we do, and sees all our secret failings. We must humble ourselves before Him if we want to avoid the wages of sin: death.

Today, ponder this: Where have I thought I could get away with something wrong? God sees all and is gracious to forgive, so confess your sins to Him. Ask God to continue to grow humility in us. Thank Him for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who grows fruits in us, that we might become people of integrity, strengthened by His power to do as we say we will do.