Pride is an emotion that God simply will not tolerate among His people.  It is the consistent teaching of God’s Word that He hates arrogance.

Psalm 101:5 (NASB 95)
⁵ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.

When the covenant that God made with His people changed, His attitude toward pride stayed the same.

1 Peter 5:5–6 (ESV)
⁵ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. 

The most obvious sign of pride is boasting.  We must be careful not to boast no matter what we accomplish in Christ.  A helpful passage with this is found in 1 Corinthians 4.

1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)
⁷ For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

The saints at Corinth struggled with the problem of pride.  Paul tried to reach them by asking them a good question, and it is still a good question for us to consider today.  When you stop and think about it, we do not have anything based on our abilities alone.  Whatever we have, be it materially, mentally, or talent-wise, someone either gave it to us outright or helped us to get it.

Let us say, for example, that you have wealth.  How did you get that wealth?  Do you think you got it all by yourself?  Someone gave you a job to accumulate income.  You say, “No, I own my own business.”  Well, how did you know how to do what you do?  Someone helped educate you.  You say, “No, I am self-taught.”  Okay, who gave you health to be able to work?  You get the point, don’t you?  This exercise works with anything that we have.  So, Paul’s conclusion is “…if then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

When it comes to our justification and salvation,  we certainly have no grounds for boasting.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Salvation would be impossible without the help of God.  It was by grace that God sent His Son into this world to die for our sins.  It was by grace that Jesus was willing to not only give up heaven and come to this earth, but also to go to the cross and shed His blood.  It was by grace that the Holy Spirit revealed God’s scheme of redemption to us in the first place, giving us the ability to know and do the will of God.  It was by grace that God decided on a plan of salvation that is based on faith rather than works of the law.

Romans 3:27–28 (ESV)
²⁷ Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.  ²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

As Christians, we should never be boastful.  Whether it has to do with the physical things of this world, our abilities, spiritual or physical, or the more important gift of salvation, we have no grounds to boast.  Let us always be thankful for the things that God blesses us with and accept them humbly.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.