Pride
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4
Pride causes us to fear potential pain and waste our energy on paranoia, wanting our lives to make sense and fit a certain perception. And when life, relationships, or circumstances don’t fit the self-image we’re seeking to create, we mess with reality just enough to keep the mask on. With this man, his reality is usually more dubious and dark than his report. He’s living in fantasy. But just because he stopped believing in reality doesn’t mean it goes away. In fact the reality has grown stronger and is more insidious inside him. Why? Because Christ is losing and the impostor is winning.
The solution? Accept reality. Work with Jesus. Stop running. When we take bold steps toward painful realities, we’ll know it is Jesus in us and not ourselves. How will we know? It’s not our natural pattern. We prefer comfort. We prefer safe fantasy. Second, because Jesus did not spin the facts when there was a risk of loss or a potentially negative consequence. In fact, he leaned in harder when there was a risk of people believing fantasies.
We have all these fears of reality in the areas where our pride gets bruised. Jesus takes this insecurity all away when we finally realize that’s exactly why we need a Savior. We will never be able to conquer pride or anything internally damaging without looking outside ourselves to Jesus.
Thank you Father, for helping me realize, you and only you are the answer.