The Proud Soul

No matter of change in the world, people remain the same.  There is pride in every human heart nothing but the power of God can free us from.  Pride is seen by some as liberating, but the scripture reveals it to be a cruel master, a sin which only brings bondage and death.  One example of pride which binds and blinds is seen in the book of Jeremiah, when people who gathered in Jerusalem asked him to seek God's counsel.  They did so promising to do whatever God said so they could be saved.  Jeremiah 42:5-6 reads, "So they said to Jeremiah, "Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. ⁶ Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."

After 10 days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah and he held nothing back of all God had said.  Despite their previous promise to obey God, their words and actions later proved they had no intention to follow through.  They thought Egypt would provide safety from warfare and captivity, but God expressly said not to return to Egypt.  Since the word of the LORD did not line up with their plans, many openly opposed it as it is written in Jeremiah 43:1-3, "Now it happened, when Jeremiah had stopped speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, all these words, ² that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, "You speak falsely! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.' ³ But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon."  It was the proud men who claimed God's word was a lie.  It was the proud men who thought they knew better than God.  It was easier to claim the words of Jeremiah was a conspiracy then to humble themselves before God in simple obedience.

Over 500 years later, Jesus was approached by a rich young ruler who thought enough of Jesus Christ to ask Him, "What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?"  The young man knew he still lacked something.  Jesus said in Matthew 19:21-22, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."  This man desired life, and He came to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  The man with the infinite need came to the God-Man who freely offered eternal life, but somehow went away sorrowful.  He had great possessions but walked away empty and sad.  He, like the men of Israel in Jeremiah's day, imagined they could find a way better than the divinely revealed way.  Such is pride, a sin which fills a man which leaves him empty and without hope!  The proud soul full of self is most impoverished.

It is well with all who obey the voice of the LORD.  What does it profit a proud man to gain the whole world and yet lose his own soul?  Jesus asked in Mark 8:37, "Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"  Almost 2,000 years after Christ's conversation with the rich ruler, a man's soul is still his most valuable treasure, the only eternal possession retained from this fleeting life.  A man who humbles himself before God in faith and obedience will save his soul, but the proud man who seeks to save his own soul will lose it.  We have nothing to bargain with before God, no possible way for us to make atonement for our sin.  Yet God in His grace has made a way for all who repent to be reconciled unto God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  It is a narrow way, and Jesus says there are few who find it.  If God asked you to do a hard thing to save your own soul, wouldn't you do it?  Will you give up your pride to save your soul?  Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse you from sin.  How about repenting of the sin of pride and instead obeying the Word of the LORD, committing your soul to Him in faith?