A prideful heart leads to worldly actions and reactions based on feelings that are self-focused and self-exalted. A self-absorbed person will take everything personally when a principle of God is mentioned, thinking that the mention alone is sending them a private message. It is not that the mention of the principle had anything to do with them but that because it convicted their own heart, they take it personally as though it was a message to them.
A righteous person who hears a principle of God which convicts them of sin in their heart will appreciate it, pray about it and desire for a change in their own character.
Those who possess the fruit of the Spirit of Christ are not offended by hearing a principle of God because they want to grow in holiness and are pleased that God brought the message to them no matter who it came from.
Those who are self-reflective with a desire to honor God care deeply about others and hate to unnecessarily distress others. A message bringing conviction is a blessing to the born-again believer who desires to walk as Christ walked.
Have you ever met someone who seems to be offended by the slightest things that most people don't even notice? These people can villify an innocent comment or kind action just because it makes them feel less than when the Holy Spirit convicts them of their own actions.
When we love others we are happy to allow them to be themselves when it is not sin. Their personality traits and personal bents are appreciated without judgment.
For the self-absorbed person, everything is framed as a personal attack even if it is only the mention of a principle of God that convicts their heart.
I have been told a number of times that "you did (or said) that just to shame me" When all I did was write a generic message to everyone while sharing God's principles. Arrogant people think everyone is thinking about them and every message is to them. They do not think in terms of the edification of the church, they think merely in terms of how they feel when they hear something.
Those who are highly elevated in their own minds cannot face the flaws in themselves, they must hide their real selves to continue to pretend in front of others. The confident person can admit their flaws and learn from them but the highly elevated person does not grow and change in their character because they cannot face the flaws.
God said it clearly when He told us to confess our sin to be cleansed.
1 John 1:8-10 "…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."
Those who cannot face their flaws are cowards who remain emotional and spiritual infants until they are convicted of the sin of pride, confess it to God and those they have harmed and desire to be changed by Christ.
Ephesians 2:9-10 "…9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."
Those who depend on their false personal to influence people to believe something that is not true about them cannot be saved because they are depending on their own "goodness" to fool God and others into believing the appearance of goodness without a changed heart.
When we have the goodness of Christ our actions will flow out of our hearts, they will not come and go based on our feelings in the moment, they will be consistent day after day. Those who live a lifestyle of anger toward anyone do not have the fruit of the Spirit of Christ or they would be consistently kind and loving to everyone even when they have to correct others.
Pretenders are dishonest, hiding all the time, and hate others continually. They will only show kindness to those they wish to impress and remain rude and unkind to those they think are beneath them.
Those who love Jesus Christ do not look down on others but have compassion even for the lost because they know they were once in that condition and that they must battle the arrows of the devil regularly.
Born-gain believers are hypersensitive to the thought of harming others. The pretenders feel nothing about harming those they think deserve it, and they always have a good reason why someone they are jealous of deserves their disrespect and disregard.
The devil uses those who are highly self-exalted to torment those who love Christ. Sadly those who are used by the devil don't understand that those who love Christ cannot be harmed by him, but he keeps trying anyway.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
Titus 2:14
He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Those who are zealous to be seen as perfect can never be saved until they realize that they need to repent to be born again. No one who is born-again has a high opinion of themselves, coming to Christ requires realizing how filthy we are without Him.
Those who are born-again are authentically loving and kind without having to try or appear in pretense, it is who they are without thinking because Christ lives in them.
Colossians 1:10
"so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,"
James 2:17-18
"So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. / But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
Matthew 5:16
"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Because the apostate church fosters pride in people many will say they are Christians who have never been changed by Christ into a new creation. They came to the gatherings to be exalted and for companionship thinking highly of themselves merely for associating with the group.
Matthew 23:1-32 "Hypocrisy Exposed
23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,
2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.
3 Therefore, whatever they tell you, do and comply with it all, but do not do as they do; for they say things and do not do them.
4 And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger.
5 And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
6 And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues,
7 and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people.
8 But as for you, do not be called Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.
9 And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
10 And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ.
11 But the greatest of you shall be your servant.
12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Matthew 23: 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"
Matthew 23: 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full [y]of robbery and self-indulgence.
26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may also become clean."
Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
30 and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
31 So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?"
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
30 and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
31 So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?"
Take away: we are not to look to men as our leaders, if they say something good from God's word we follow that but we are not to follow them, only what they repeat in truth about God.
Christ alone is our leader, He lives in born-again believers and will be our teacher, guide, and protector.
Hallelujah that we are free to follow Christ even if no one else does.
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