Daily
Devotional

If our hearts are open to God, He is faithful to guide us so our lives bring glory to Him. For example, one morning I left the house to run errands and, at some point during the day, I began to get a nagging feeling that I had done something I should not have done. Later that evening, while saying my prayers, my conscience began to bother me again. I asked the Lord to search my heart while I thought back over my day.  

When I remembered my trip to the grocery store, that uncomfortable, nagging feeling grew worse. I thought about what took place there and the Lord showed me that I had been inconsiderate to an acquaintance I had seen there. I felt badly and told the Lord that I was sorry, and then I called and apologized to the person that I had possibly offended.

However, on another occasion when God’s Spirit checked my heart, pride got in the way. Instead of asking God to search my heart, I thought about how uncomfortable it is to apologize, and I put off praying for a day. The next day, I again ignored the problem, and soon a week had passed. In my mind I continued to build up the cost of apologizing until I reached a place where yielding to God seemed too high a price to pay.  

Pride is often so precious to us that we forget what it is costing us. Let’s take my pride and put it in the balances to see how it weighs out against yielding to God. On the side of pride is the nagging of a guilty conscience that must continually be pushed to the back of the mind. There are also unanswered prayers because confidence is gone, and the fear of living in uncertainty with God. Finally, there is constant dread at the thought of eventually dealing with the situation. On the other side of the balance, though, is yielding to God. With yielding there is forgiveness, a clear conscience, a clean slate, peace, and joy. Weighed in the balances, pride is found wanting.

Eventually I did obey God and correct my offence, but postponing that decision caused needless stress and anxiety. If you are struggling with pride today, what is it costing you? An unsettled heart? A guilty conscience? Conviction? Weigh pride in the balances and see if it is worth what you are paying.