Proverbs 6:16-17
There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes…
“Haughty” is not a word we hear very often these days, but we should, because haughty eyes are all around us and may describe our own condition. To have haughty eyes is to have an arrogant demeanor; it’s an overall attitude of your heart that causes you to look down on others with a certain gusto. Haughty-eyed people tend to overestimate themselves while underestimating just about everyone else in terms of spirituality, knowledge, intellect, etc.
God is resistant to haughtiness. He hates it…and that is why He opposes it (James 4:6). But what’s the rub? Why the hate? C.S. Lewis says, “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”
In the final analysis, pride is what fueled Satan’s rebellion, along with Adam and Eve’s, and every single human being that has ever existed. Pride is the motivator that led us all away from God and gave life to the death sentence of His one and only son. Pride is the human race spitting in the Almighty’s face and joining in the billion-man chorus that sings, “I did it my way”.
How do you know is you have a pride problem? Let me ask you this: Do you sin? If you answered “yes” – and you better have – then you have a pride problem by definition. The better question is this: Where has pride taken hold in my life? We all need to say with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:23-24). Ask mature Christians in your life where they see pride in you and give them permission to be honest. Once you identify it…confess it, repent of it, and ask God to help you eliminate it. While He resists your pride…He will give grace to your humility.
