Daily Devotional for Thursday June 12, 2003

Pride goes before destruction

( Proverbs 11:2, 16:18, 1 John 2:16 )

Pride goes before destruction. Martha Stewart is a current example of this Biblical truth. For many people that enjoy the success of this world, there comes a point when pride overtakes your life. You become the "god" of the world that you have created. You have the financial resources to live however you want and do whatever you please. You see other people as simply there to serve you and fulfill whatever needs you may have. You answer to no one. Nobody tells you what to do. Your decisions are final. My friend, when this becomes your life, it is only a matter of time before the world you created will come crashing down. We see it happen all of the time with entertainers, business people, and sadly, even those who are in the ministry.

I can relate with what Martha is dealing with in her life right now, since I went through a very similar experience in my own life 15 years ago. I was blessed with much success in the business world at a very young age that caused me to abandon the call God had on my life, so that I could focus on building my own kingdom instead. I did a great job of it for a decade, until my world came crashing down in 1988. Like Martha, I got involved in some illegal stock trades. Like Martha, I thought that I was above the law and used my high priced attorneys to fight the government. Like Martha, it not only cost me an incredible amount of money, but eventually my freedom. Like Martha, it was my PRIDE that led to my downfall. The sin of pride carries a huge price!

There is nothing wrong with having success, or having money. In any business there has to be one person at the top who makes the ultimate decisions. But we must guard ourselves from letting pride take over our life. We must never forget that powerful verse in John 15:5 that tells us "without me, you can do nothing!" God must ALWAYS be first in our life and the head of our life. The very first sin was PRIDE. Satan decided that he wanted to be God. That is EXACTLY what pride is. It is when we decide that WE want to be God. When we make that choice, it is only a matter of time before we will fall.

Satan made that choice and was kicked out of Heaven with his eventual eternal home being the Lake of Fire. Bill Keller made that choice and spent 31 months in Federal Prison. Martha Stewart made that choice and will also be spending several years in Federal Prison. When you take God off of the throne and replace Him with yourself, it is not a matter of if, only when you will be destroyed. Deuteronomy 8:19 tells us that if we forget God, and chase after other gods, that we will be destroyed!!!

I love you and care about you so much. Pride is not just an issue that the rich and powerful people of the world fall into. WE ALL CAN FALL INTO THE SIN OF PRIDE!!! Any time that you make the choice to put yourself over God, any time that you make the choice to live your life apart from God, you have fallen into the sin of pride. That is why it is important to get up in the morning and first thing, pray. Prayer is many things, but one thing it is, is an act of dependence upon God. When we pray, we are saying, "God, I need you!" Keeping God in His rightful place, on the throne of our life, as the head of our life, is how we can keep from falling into the sin of pride.

I will be praying for you today. I pray that you will not fall into the sin of pride. Like all sin, the sin of pride carries a big price tag. Again, the way to avoid this sin is to always keep God first in your life. I not only wake up each morning and go right to prayer, but taped to the mirror in my bathroom are those powerful words from John 15:5, WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING. I pray that in the coming months that Martha Stewart will ask God to forgive her of her sin of pride and ask Jesus Christ into her heart. She has tremendous gifts that God could use to touch many for His Kingdom if she is willing to humble herself and surrender her life to the Lord. I pray that she will. 13 years ago, I repented of my sin of pride and asked God to forgive me. I had to learn a very tough lesson about the consequences of this sin. I pray that you will heed this warning today and not allow pride into your life. The Bible is true when it says, "pride goes before destruction."

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller