Are You Following in Satan’s Footsteps?

In an article by C S Lewis, he relates a “Christian View” that the vice (or Sin) that is the utmost evil is “Pride”. In his belief it overshadows and leads to many other vices. As a proof of his belief, he offers the statement “it was through Pride that the devil became the devil”. This is a frightening thought for we know many Christians that are proud of themselves, proud of their work, proud of their team, etc. We need to determine the validity of this statement for it obviously has dire consequences for us.

We can begin our quest for answers by considering a tradition, developed during the time between the Old and New Testaments regarding the creation of angels, where many came to believe that Satan was an angel, that Satan was thrown out of heaven, and that the reason for his separation from God was his pride. More importantly, we can see how the sin of pride in us affects our relationship with God.

We know that God created the heavens, the highest heavens, the starry host (angels) and the earth (Neh 9:6). We know that by the sixth day God saw ALL that He made or EVERYTHING that was made WAS GOOD (Gen 1:31). The beginning of the book of Job starts with the satan, the adversary, speaking with God (Job 1:6-12). Also, after Jobs’ lament, God addresses Job asking him where he was when God laid the earths foundation. In the following passages God states that “all the angels (there) shouted for joy” (Job 38:4-7). Proponents of this origin tradition point to the book of Revelation, in which the great dragon, ancient serpent, devil or Satan along with his angels were thrown out of heaven by the Archangel Michael and some other of God’s angels (Rev 12:7-9). Jesus also uses the figure of speech to His 72 followers that Satan fell from heaven as a result of spreading the gospel (Lk 10:17-18). The reason for Satan’s fall is interpreted in different Bible passages. Satan wanted to be greater than God (Isa 14:12-16), Satan was wicked, violent and filled with his own beauty and sinfulness (Ezek 28:13-19). In the New Testament there are also warnings that we may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil and his angels (1 Tim 3:6, 2 Pet 2:4).

The tradition asserts that pride is what caused the downfall of Satan and his angels along with their banishment from heaven. But is pride the evilest of all our sins? We all like to feel good about ourselves and our actions especially when nobody else thinks we have done well. How can that be so bad? What about having pride for your team, or sibling or spouse, is that bad? A review of the Bible will reveal that there are many verses that mention pride and many more that mention humility which is the direct opposite to pride.

The book of Proverbs states that pride will bring you disgrace, bring you low, is the way of evil, and leads to destruction (Prov 8:13, Prov 11:2, Prov 16:18, Prov 29:23) That’s a pretty clear message! In the writings of the Apostles, John tells us that pride is not from God but from the world (1 Jn 2:16). Peter tells us that God opposes the proud (1 Pet 5:5). Mark tells us that pride is one of the evil things that come from within a person (Mk 7:20-23). Luke tells us that if we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled (Lk 14:11).

What then can be said? It appears that to be “good” means that we encourage and admonish one another. We can be proud of the good works of God and His creation, we can be proud to be children of God but where we go wrong is when we attach pride to ourselves. That is the beginning of sinfulness because like Satan we put ourselves over God.

Perhaps C. S. Lewis is correct that pride is the utmost evil, but all evil is evil. We must be careful of pride as it may be more of a trap than we realize, because when we stop giving to God the praise for the good, for our talents and for our good works, then we become trapped in ourselves and separated from God by our pride.

The Disciple group suggests that you consider all the things that you are proud of and see if you are taking the credit yourself or are giving the honor to God.

If you want to become closer to our God, consider joining us in the Disciple Group. Ask Pastor Gary for more information.