That's the Pride Talking

Hosea 5:5
And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

What is pride? Well one definition is having honor and self-respect. This is explaining having pride in your appearance, work ethic, or even your character. We really, really need this type of pride in our lives and society today. Another definition, which is the one in our scripture this morning, is arrogance, smugness, self-importance, conceit or vanity. This pride is described as not needing anyone, especially a God telling you what to do or how to live.

Pride is very destructive when not defined properly. You see we need to have pride defined the first way, but never do we need pride in the second. The honor and self-respect of ourselves unto God is a godly characteristic. The arrogance and self-dependence through pride is not of God. The scriptures tell us that this pride will lead to failure and destruction.

One of the things that I love about church is all the children. Before and after our services you can hear and see these children laughing and playing. When those little ones who have just begun to walk come into the church almost every adult wants to hold them. I love how parents will put them down to walk and immediately the game begins. You know the one... The adult holds there arms out like a monster while saying, "I'm gonna get you, you better run." Then the adult chases them down and grabs them up into their arms and hugs them.

Can't you picture pride being this same way with a different result at the end? We are walking and pride is constantly saying, "I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get you..." It's so true! It is always there trying to get us and just like those little children that could never outrun the adult, we can't outrun pride. We must confess it! You may think today that you have your pride fooled. "It will never get me, I'm too fast, I'm too good", you may say. But can I point something out to you? That's your pride talking.