Wrong Kind of Pride Leads to Multiple Sins

"Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God/ Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us years jealously'? But He give more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.' James 4:1-6 NKJV).

James writes strongly in these verses about the wrong kind of pride, the selfish, self-seeking pride that leads to all kins of sinful actions. A commonly held moral teaching was that the aggressiveness of bodily desires was the root of all sorts of human conflicts and quarrels: wars, murder, covetousness that leads to stealing, adultery, enmity with God. Then in the midst of speaking of the wrong kind of pride and desires and the sins to which they lead, James inserts a strong word on prayer: "You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." To pray from wrong motives is most certainly an indication that God will not answer the prayers in a positive manner. This is another evil effect of seeking bodily pleasures and holding to the wrong kind of pride: they prevent answers to prayers, or even prevent one from praying. The Scripture James quotes here, so we are told by scholars, may have been form some of the writings not included in the canon of our Bible: "The Spirit who dwells in us eyarns jealously." The Greek words for this sentence are most difficult to translate, and one cannot find this quotation in a concordance of the Old Testament. James, like many of us, was no doubt not quoting any specific text, but giving the gist of meaning from several Old Testament texts. We can safely say that the Spirit of God that dwells in us "jealously yearsn" for us to refrain from the sins of selfish pride and focus on His way. "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble" is a quotation from Proverbs 3:34.

Sin produces selfish, prideful desire and lack of humility. Our prayers, instead of being selfish, should seek to glorify God and advance His kingdom. Is He not then interested in our day-by-day requests, some in which we frequently ask for help in tough situations? Certainly He is, and He hears these prayers when we pray from an humble heart and our motives are right. The promise is assuredly that "He gives grace to the humble." Let us beware of our selfish pride and cultivate humility.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, October 21, 2010