Thursday, February 21, 2019
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV84) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
DIVINE LOVE IS NOT . . .
Pride has been called one of the seven deadly sins. Not surprisingly, the apostle Paul includes it in his listing of what divine love (A-GAH-PE) will NOT be like.
If anyone had reason to be proud or boastful, it was Jesus Christ, Lord of lords and King of kings. Yet again Jesus is the epitome of divine love here. Recall how St. Paul writes of Christ's humility: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit . . . Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who . . . made Himself of no reputation . . ." (read all of Philippians 2:5-11).
Our society and culture is one of Satan's strongest allies here. All around us we hear the drumbeat, "Stand on your own feet . . . fight for the top . . . assert yourself . . . become self-sufficient . . . discover your own self-identity . . . fulfill yourself!" Thus the world, with Satan its prince (John 12:31), caters to the innate human pride within all of us.
Beware, fellow believers. The Bible has many examples supporting Solomon's holy contention, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). King Saul and Judas, the betrayer, come to mind; but also King David, a "man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:4), and Peter who gave in to the worldly crowd when he was warming himself at the courtyard fires during the trial of his Savior.
An excellent antidote to pride is remembering we are not self-made people. The gospel teaches that Christ came to call sinners, not the self-righteous, to repentance. The worst pride of all is the pharisaic kind, imagining one can stand before God on the basis of the filthy rags of one's own righteousness (Isaiah 64:6).
May we ever confess and sing with Isaac Watts:
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 175:1-2, 4)
