As we continue our series reviewing what happened in Genesis we must address this critical subject…Pride. Gen 3:5 – what does the enemy tempt Adam and Eve with?
5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” Adam and eve wanted to ‘be like God’.
Remember Satan wants to disrupt God’s order of things, and he will use lies and deception to start that process. Just a few verses later we see the curse that comes to women – you’re now going to want to rule over your husbands. Husbands – we want to allow it – to shrink back from our leadership role and let it happen. Children – you will tend toward disobeying your parents and want to make all your own decisions.
It all started here – pride that says I can do it on my own. Pride that says, “Don’t need to obey or follow anyone. I can be like God!” This is exactly the same thing that took the heart of the angel, Lucifer, when he was in Heaven.
Isaiah 14:12-15, “How you have fallen from heaven, You star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who defeated the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.
That’s PRIDE! The desire to have things and be things and build myself up. And when we sin, when we agree with satan’s lies and act out it is pride that says, “I can fix/heal myself.”
What did Adam and Eve do immediately after they ate the fruit? Gen 3:7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.”
They tried to cover themselves. They hid from God. Today it works like this. You get hurt, wounded, rejected, sinned against. Something doesn’t work out and here comes the enemy with His lies telling you “you’re not good enough, God doesn’t love you, etc.”
Pride then says – I will prove I am good enough. I will make myself worthy of love! So what do we turn to? What’s our fig leaf?
Students look to Success – in school with grades, sports, relationships (boyfriend or girlfriend) even being the good church kid. We are proving our worth and value. Is there anything wrong with those things? NO – but a good thing has become a ‘God thing’ and that’s a bad thing. It’s called an idol. Looking to something other than God for love and worth and value.
Pride says I can do this! But guess what – you will mess up or fail or something won’t work out. Then what? Try again with something else. But if you run into enough failures and set backs then you may start struggling with anxiety, depression, and on and on.
Moms…you can turn to kids or careers for worth and value. Or maybe possessions – house, clothes, etc. or positions within the school or church that give you importance or significance. Again – anything wrong with those things? No. But a good thing that turns into a God thing is a bad thing!
Husbands…you turn to performance so easily – success at work, sports, education, possessions – achieve, grow, build, conquer. Good things that become God things are bad thing.
Go back to lies and our agreement and our pride to try and heal ourselves. You see the hard part is that it works for a while. You may achieve, possess, win, get good grades, et.
But when it stumbles, when it falters, when the idol is revealed – it can rock you!
All too quickly we can turn to other things for comfort, peace, and love – the enemy is all too willing to make sinful things accessible to us through the world. Things like drugs or alcohol, other relationships, on and on.
Can you see it? It’s the same old story from Gen 3 till now! Lies from the enemy and the pride in our sinful selves keeps us from experiencing the relationship with God and others that we are designed to have. We need RESTORATION!
God is calling us to wake up to these tactics. God wants to bring healing and freedom to your own heart and to your marriage and to your family. We must be aware of the Lies of the enemy and the pride in our hearts – because it brings separation and breaks unity and fellowship.
We must humble ourselves and run back to the Father – just like the prodigal son in Luke 15. Humble ourselves, repent and receive God’s unconditional love and forgiveness and see restoration come!
Check out Part 4 of this series to find out what’s next (coming soon)!
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