Love and respect do not come in the form of a gift, card, or even a phone call. Love is evidenced in the interest in someone, valuing their wisdom, and treating them as if they are esteemed.
One of the ways of valuing someone is to allow them to have their own views, ideas, and personalities without judging their character because they respond to things differently, or enjoy tastes that do not match your own. Even enjoy differences because they enrich us all to encounter various personalities and ways of doing things.
Prideful people often give gifts to elevate themselves. Their gifts are not evidence of love, it is the way they treat people when they are not giving gifts that tells the tale.
Philippians 2:3-4 " 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Prideful people who consider themselves superior to others do not consider others; everything they do and say is based on elevating themselves. They judge others for things that are not sin. They mock others' ways because they are different from theirs.
James 4:6 "But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Prideful people always associate themselves with cliques; their friends are always only those who are, in their eyes, accomplished and superior. Their friendship circle is very narrow and fluid. People come and go frequently because as soon as a friend no longer measures up to the haughty person, they are treated with contempt and discarded.
Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another."
Galatians 5:26 "Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another."
Haughty people tend to be easily offended because their pride is first and foremost, they cannot tolerate the slightest correction or disagreement.
Kind and loving people share in your joys and weep with you when you are in distress. We know the people who will weep with us; there aren't many in this world steeped in narcissism. Once in a while we encounter someone who loves the Lord who is compassionate and engaging, but not often. We are living in the last days as described in 2 Timothy.
Romans 12:15 "15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."
Prideful people attend church gatherings, their purpose is not to learn how to be cleasnsed of their sins and walk with Christ, it is to appear to the world as superior. They "have a form of religion" but deny God because they do not walk with Him and they deny much of His Word to make it fit their own desires.
The good news is that we don't have to be like this!!! We can walk with Christ, not allowing how others act to influence how we behave. The key to walking through this world of hate and misery is to keep our eyes focused on Christ, and know the Bible well so we are continually reminded of the principles and heart of God.
Luke 14:11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
When we read the Word and God describes to us what love looks like, we can ask Him to shape us into His image. He can change the way we think into His mind so that what we do comes naturally without thinking because He is the One Who changes us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. / It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs."
Hatred of the world is the opposite of God's love; it is not patient, nor kind, it envies and boasts, is proud, and keeps accounts of perceived wrongs even if they were not wrongs. The hatred of proud people looks the opposite of God's love. Prideful people are always looking for something to be angry about when they encounter one who walks with God.
It is not hard to spot a haughty person; they share very little about their life with others except the things they think will impress. And, they judge everything we share with them to be able to gossip. Their stories about others are often inaccurate and embellished with their own perceptions and desired outcomes.
We live in a world full of narcissism and brutality, and it is not easy to navigate through it all, which is why God told us "we are in the world, but we are not of the world." He also said, "Come out from among them and be separated."
God never told us to walk into the den of wolves and face off with them. He told us to give them the gospel, and if they refuse, we are to walk away. This would include pretenders in the organized churches that defy God's Word.
It won't be long now, we are living in the last of the last days, times when we separate even more dramatically as the gospel has been perverted and the unsaved love their sin. Most people who say they are Christians have "a form of religion" but deny God by defying His Word continually.
Romans 12:16 "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited."
We must choose not to associate with the proud who are contentious; they will influence how we respond even if we don't want to act the way they act. They will trigger the worst in us and be glad they did.
Proverbs 11:2 "When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom."
Proverbs 13:10 "Arrogance leads only to strife, but wisdom is with the well-advised."
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
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