Different Things God is teaching Me

The Final Stand & Snare: The Pride of Life

"...Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." ~I Corinthians 10:12

If you think you have escaped the "lust of the flesh" and the "lust of the eyes", then redeemed sinner, beware of the "pride of life". (1 John 2:16) The first two may be the more common of temptations and transgressions among men, yet if Morality should overcome these, then pride will seek to become its final deathblow. It is popularly known that the majority of deaths that occur among mountain hikers and climbers who attempt to top Mount Everest, happen not when ascending the mountain but in descending from its top. Why? Because after risking so much, the senses heightened to reach the top, and finally getting to experience the thrill of arrival and victory, the tendency is to let down ones senses and guard when going back down a mountain that remains just as dangerous in its ascent as it does in its descent. In conquring the Flesh and choosing obedience over disobedience, do we still remain humble? Are our spiritual senses still on the alert and remaining aware that we could stumble shortly after reaching the top?
In the order of Luke's gospel, when neither the turning of stones into bread (the lust of the flesh) and the riches-power of the world (the lust of the eyes) could dissuade Jesus from being lifted up on the cross, Satan proposed a death-defying leap off of the Temple roof for Christ to prove to all men His Divine authority (the pride of life, see Luke 4:1-14) If the Pharisees and the rich, young ruler could have justified themselves of being clean and exempt of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes (which they could not, see Matthew 5:27-28, John 8:2-9, Mark 10:17-22) they were still condemned by the last: the pride of life. Stumbling into the path of Satan, they gloried more in their gifts than in the Giver of those gifts and their beauty more than in their Beautifier. Today, we are just as vulnerable as they were in the past.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you." ~Ezekiel 28:14‭-‬15‭, ‬17

“Then I washed you (Israel) in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. ...Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God . “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. ...And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood." ~Ezekiel 16:9‭, ‬13‭-‬15‭, ‬22

We must be aware of both God's mercy and the malice of our own Flesh that would seek to twist His mercy and call it 'Our Merit'. When God is faithful, the Flesh would have us forget to focus on ourselves as if His fullness is all because of us rather than Him being Him, I am that I am: Mercy.

"When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest— when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth..." ~Deuteronomy 8:10‭-‬18

“Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’ ...understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people." ~Deuteronomy 9:4‭, ‬6

Are you praying that God would deliver you from the temptations and sins that surround you? Beware that you are not praying with a hidden intent of being preserved so that you may be recognized and praised by men for self strength rather than spiritual grace. Pray in such a way that pleads God alone be glorified through your deliverance and that you would be humbled; that you might further receive His grace.

"Fervent lips with a wicked heart, are ike earthenware covered with silver dross." ~Proverbs 26:23

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." ~James 4:3

"Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And let those who love Your salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified!” " ~Psalms 70:4

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 3:12‭-‬14