1Peter 5:5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble”.
My very first time in a white garment church, I went there with a sense of spiritual pride. Coming from a pentecostal background, I felt I knew God's word better and will dish out "Rhema" when I get there. Also, I felt were more sound and accurate than them.
You can't blame me. I was raised as a conservative evangelical and in my growing years in the faith, we were made to believe we were better than people from there including the churches we call "Orthodox" in Nigeria though we are also orthodox, speaking theologically. We assumed all of them were thesame. While I agree there are bad eggs but all are not thesame. Take that from me.
When I got this white garment church, two ministers from their fold preached before me. I couldn't believe what I heard. The sermons were sound and instructive. In fact, the youth preacher's message was a wake-up call to me. If he had made an altar call, I may be the first to step out because I saw my backsliden state in his sermon.
That day, I learnt to be humble in an unusual way. When I mounted the pulpit, I confessed my sin to the people and then I had a release to preach. I think I left that service more blessed than anyone else.
According to an online dictionary, pride is defined as the feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
Pride makes a man look down on others as worthless and without value. If this extends into our walk with God, we will miss God over and over because God oppose the proud but he gives grace only to the humble.
In my opinion, spiritual pride is far worse. It is an enemy of divine encounter. It makes one look down on people and places God has set for our blessing. Why some are not blessed is simply because they look down on those God sent to them. This is common to those who have stayed long in church or senior ministers.
Spiritual pride was one of the problems Pharisees and Saducees had when Jesus came on the scene. You may not see it that way but in my opinion, I think it is.
To be a Pharisee requires alot especially knowledge about the law of Moses. Saducees are picked from the wealthy families. They are aristocrats and they also possess a deep knowledge about the Mosaic law.
Here comes Jesus, the son of a carpenter who never attended any Rabbinic school yet he claimed to have knowledge about God and spiritual things. How do you think a Pharisee or Saducee would be patient to listen to an ordinary Jewish carpenter teach? Spiritual pride prevented them from encountering God through Jesus.
Today, spiritual pride comes in shades of many colours. There are believers or ministers who would never sit to learn under anyone they perceive does not have their 'spiritual qualification'. So wrong!
They may ask questions like: 'did he go to Bible school'? Does he run a mega church? That someone pastor a small church doesn't mean he cannot be used by God to minister to the Bishop of a large cathedral. It is in my generation we use human parameters to determine who and who cannot minister to us.
God can use a teenager to meet the spiritual need of a General overseer only If he is humble. Spiritual pride robs us of many blessings. Some will never take notes in church when their junior or someone they brought into the faith is preaching.
I see spiritual pride often and God is warning us about it especially those of us in the ministry. Don't sit like a father of spiritual sons in God's presence when God has chosen to speak to you through those you call sons. Sit and learn like a learner under the feet of the master.
Do all you can to fight spiritual pride, it is an enemy of spiritual encounter.
Father, I receive the grace to mortify spiritual pride in my life In Jesus name.