The Pride of Man
This is Day 3 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.
Lucifer's pride caused him to fall from Heaven down to Earth. There his wrath towards God consumed him and he consumed the world with his wickedness. The devil is not powerful enough to attack God directly, so he chose to turn his wrath toward something else, something weak and fragile, something God loved very much--man.
Adam and Eve lived a perfect blissful life. They suffered no pain or worry. They had plenty to eat and drink. And most important of all, they walked in the Garden with the Lord.
But Adam and Eve were not satisfied with the perfect world God had created for them. They weren't satisfied to have each other. They were not satisfied to have God. No, they wanted to be God. Their pride consumed them to the point that it took but a small nudge from the serpent to convince them to throw away everything, to disobey God, and to curse the whole world with darkness and evil.
I wish Adam and Eve had never eaten that apple. And I like to think that I would shunned the serpent and refused to disobey God had it been me. But the reality of my life tells a different story. I have reached for apple after apple, over and over again.
My pride is just as all-consuming as the pride of Adam and Eve. I too want to be like God, because I too, want to control my life. I want to do what I want. I want to say what I want. And many times I have done just that.
Whenever I disobey God I take a bite of the apple. Whenever I love myself more than my fellow man I take a bite out of the apple. Whenever I chose sports, TV, surfing the net or anything else over God I take a bite out of the apple. And when I chose to follow my own heart, my own will, I get myself into trouble just like Adam and Eve.
The pride of man has been every bit as destructive as the pride of the devil. It is our pride that keeps us from God. It is our pride that keeps us from each other. It is our pride that keeps us from being happy. And in the end, it will be our pride that keeps us out of Heaven and causes our fall into the fiery pit where we will spend eternity wailing and gnashing our teeth.
R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Peter Puckett series, a Christian children's fantasy that explores what it means to know and love Christ through exciting adventures. His books and blog can be found at rcvanlandingham.com.