Pride Verses Faith

Scripture

I, the LORD, refuse to accept anyone who is proud. Only those who live by faith are acceptable to Me.

~Habakkuk 2:4, CEV

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The B part of this verse, we are all familiar with: in the AV it reads, “The just shall live by faith.” We know that this is an important verse because it is quoted three times in the NT [Rom. 1:17, Gal.3:11, Heb.10:38]. If the LORD repeats Himself three times, we better take note. But have you notice the A part to Habakkuk 2:4? “I, the LORD, refuse to accept anyone who is proud.” Would you know it: How many times is the pride principle repeated? Proverbs 3:34 is the OT reference. “God sneers at those who sneer at Him but He is kind to everyone who is humble.” James quotes from this principle in chapter four of his epistle, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Peter says in I Peter 5:5,  “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Jesus stated the principle three times in the gospels like this, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Pride repelled God. Another way of stating the principle is that God hates pride.

So what does FAITH have to do with PRIDE? They are antithetical to each other, they are opposing ways of life. The just or justified live by FAITH. We rely on Christ. He is our hope, our strength, our righteousness, our salvation, our shepherd, our Savior and I could go on and on. We don’t have all the answers because we have the ANSWER {Jesus}. Jesus is the Answer, the problem is that folks don’t ask the right questions. We live by Proverbs 3:5-6, “We trust in the LORD with all our heart.” We do not rely on our judgment or experience. In every thing we do, we seek His will and guidance. We do not trust our judgment so we rely completely on His. This is not how the proud live. They think they can make it fine without Jesus. They don’t need His righteousness nor His guidance. They can handle it on their own. Their attitude is: “I’ve got this; I’m good so butt out.”

Let me tell you what is so brilliant about this principle: the proud can never please God no matter what they achieve. They could make a fortune and then give it to the poor but it would not earn God’s favor. They could write 150 books, preach 10,000 sermons, be invited to speak at the largest gathering but it would not earn God’s respect: He would only sneer. Oh, the proud can win man’s favor but never God’s. You could have the voice of an angel and sing pure gospel but if you did it in pride, God would have no part of it.” Salvation is by faith from start to finish. It is 100% GRACE so that no one can boast. No one is going to abuse God’s redemptive plan: you either humble yourself and acknowledge your need for Him or you will be rejected.