SUNDAY DEVOTION: Pride

The Bible has a lot to say about pride, none of it good:

• The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. Proverbs 8:13
• Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
• For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 1 John 2:16
• In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” Psalm 10:4
• And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:20-23

June marks the holiest month of the secular pagan religion that is all but official in America and the western world today. Businesses, government agencies, sports teams, and even Sesame Street are celebrating “Pride Month”. It’s not hyperbole to call this our national religion. Just a few days ago, officials in Spokane, Washington held a tearful press conference promising to bring to justice whomever defaced a pride flag crosswalk in their city. Burning the American flag is free speech, but burning a pride flag brings hate crime charges.

America was founded as a Christian nation, not based on a particular denomination but one in which everyone agreed with the basic moral tenets of the Christian faith. We discarded that idea in the second half of the 20th century, and now that vacuum has been filled by a new religion that is every bit as dogmatic. It has its priests (LGBTQ+ and DEI activists), devils (straight white Christians, with Donald Trump as chief), rituals (sensitivity trainings, struggle sessions), incantations (diversity is our strength, love is love), and of course, holy days:

This new religion has been established in America without a vote of the people, without even explaining what was truly happening. Nearly two years ago, I shared my observations after visiting Boise Pride Fest:

This new religion has inverted the traditional view of human nature. Christendom once considered lust, greed, wrath, sloth, envy, gluttony, and pride to be deadly sins; the new religion has made them into virtues.

I am convinced that most of the people involved do not think deeply about what pride represents – they just enjoy the bright colors, silly costumes, and the warm fuzzy feelings brought on by supporting tolerance, inclusion, diversity, and love.

But the truth is that those are only surface level feelings. The LGBTQ+ movement is leading millions of people down a path of depression, emptiness, hopelessness, and pain. We need to aggressively protect our children from this path, while at the same time engaging people with love and respect. I believe that we can have a respectful conversation, but queer advocates must know in no uncertain terms that we will protect our children from their agenda.

Above all, we need to proclaim the truth: the society we desire is one where all children grow up in healthy families with a father and a mother, and where they are shielded from those who would capture their minds in service of a sociopolitical agenda. The veneer of pride is like candy from a man in a windowless van: no matter how good it tastes, taking it is a very bad idea.

This morning I finished reading the book of Ezra to my children. Ezra the priest came to Jerusalem to shepherd the exiled remnant who had rebuilt the temple only to find them already compromising with sin. They were intermarrying with pagan tribes, bringing pagan worship into syncretism with the laws of Israel. Ezra admonished them and together they repented and asked God to renew the covenant with His people.

As Christians, we are called to be salt and light in a fallen world. That means we must first look to ourselves. Are we walking with Christ, or are we compromising with sin? As the remnant of Christendom, we must make sure we are above reproach before we can call the rest of the world to repentance. Like the Christians of Ephesus, a city that took pride in the pagan cultic practices at the Temple of Artemis, we must hold the line in our own communities before we can change the rest of the culture.

Pride goes before the fall, and we must keep our families and our children safe from this pervasive ideology. That means being deliberate about how we ourselves live. Let us put away our own pride, humbling ourselves before our God and giving glory only where it is due.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:4-8 ESV