Today’s devotional: too proud to accept God’s grace
Is pride a sin you struggle with? Most of us try our best to steer clear of the most commonly understood definition of pride—believing ourselves to be better or more worthy than others. But in a devotional at Lutheran Hour Ministries, Meron Tekle Berhan cautions Christians about a more sinister form of pride: the belief that we can do something to earn or complete our own salvation.
In addition to duping us into thinking we’re better than other people, pride can also drive a deadly wedge between God and us. How? Though we may acknowledge that God, through the saving work of Christ Jesus, is willing to forgive all our sins, pride can deceive us into thinking that somehow that doesn’t really mean our sins.
As a consequence, some people mistakenly feel that though God offers complete liberation from every sin through Christ’s work on the cross, this offer must somehow, some way, be added to by them completing the deal — i.e. doing something on their own that puts the finishing touch on God’s work for their salvation….
Unfortunately, there are many who are too proud to accept that their sins, though grievous, are as damnable — and forgivable — as the next person’s. No more, no less. Therefore, being cleansed of those sins requires one thing: faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world.
Read the full devotional at Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Have you ever found yourself too proud to admit that you couldn’t make up for your own sins? What happens when we do good works in the hope or belief that those good works, and not Jesus’ grace, will seal our salvation?
We express GRACE by how we treat others. It’s one thing to accept the grace that the Almighty so freely gives all who ask for it. Pride certainly can and sometimes does get in the way of that grace. How much “grace” are we willing to extend. Pride prevents forgiving and asking for forgiveness among our family, friends, acquaintances and encounters. Why is that? Is it because as long as we hold onto the unforgiveness, it allows us that same sense of one upmanship, that I am above forgiving or asking for forgiveness? Certainly something to ponder!