Don’t you hate it when you have worked so hard to make something happen and someone comes along, does a little touch up and takes credit for the outcome? Don’t you feel robbed when you lead a difficult project to success and your manager tells the bosses that it was all his effort? Don’t you feel taken advantage of when you share your idea with your colleague only to see him suggest it without acknowledging that it came from you? Taking credit for something that should belong to others is a prevailing problem in the marketplace so much so that articles have been written to advise on how to deal with this. What happens when Christians take credit for what God has done? Well, when this happens we are saying that not all glory should go to God because we deserve credit too! Do you see that we are treading on dangerous ground here? This is the sin of pride. This is the sin that above all else God hates.
“The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” (Isa 2:11) Among the “six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him… ”the first on the list is “haughty eyes” (Prov 6:16-17). The apostle John warns us “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 Jn 2:15,16). The church at Corinth is very much in the world and the root cause of this is the sin of pride. There are at least 9 references in 1 Corinthians to pride. In 1 Cor 1:29: “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God”. In 1 Cor 1:31: “so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.””
Pride is boasting in self and not the Lord. It is taking credit for what God does. It is depending on our own strength and not on God’s. It displaces God and puts SELF first. It is not giving God our Creator and Redeemer the due that is His. Apostle Paul tells us that: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8,9). John Piper, an American Church leader and writer, was spot on when he said that God loves the heart that boasts in the Lord and gives Him credit for what He alone can do. God loves the man whose strength is in the Lord. “This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10b).
