OVERCOME THE PRIDE OF LIFE (1)

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…” – Genesis 3:6a

The trajectory of humanity took a tragic plunge because of the first couple’s inability to OVERCOME THE PRIDE of LIFE: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen.3:6). Although the phrase “pride of life” is found only once in the Bible – in 1 John 2:15 – the concept appears in two other significant passages of Scripture, linked with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes: Eve’s temptation in Eden and Christ’s temptation in the wilderness (Gen.3: 1-6; Mt.4: 8-10). Eve and her husband, Adam fell, but Christ overcame.

Eve, in the Garden of Eden, was tempted by the serpent to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She coveted the fruit in three ways (v.6). First, it appealed to her appetite: “good for food” – “lust of the flesh.” The fruit was also “pleasant to the eyes”: desired to possess – “lust of the eyes.” Then, Eve perceived that the fruit was “desirable to make one wise”: that it would give her a wisdom beyond her own. Part of Satan’s lie was that eating the fruit would make her “like God, knowing good and evil” – the pride of life (Gen.3:5). Eve wanted to be like God in her knowledge, not content to live in a perfect world under His perfect grace and care.

The Pride of Life is anything that tries to exalt us above our station and offers the illusion of God-like qualities apart from what He graciously gives. Such pride produces arrogant boasting in worldly wisdom. It is anything that is “of the world” that leads to arrogance, ostentation, presumption, and boasting. Satan tried these same three temptations on Jesus in the wilderness: the lust of the flesh, bread for His hunger (Mt.4: 2-3); and the lust of the eyes, “all the kingdoms of the world with their glory” (Mt.4: 8-9). The pride of life was Satan daring Jesus to cast Himself from the roof of the Temple in order to prove that He was the Messiah by an ostentatious display of power that was not in the will of God or His plan for humanity’s redemption (Mt.4: 5-6). But Jesus resisted and overcame the devil by applying the Word of God.

Believers have always been, and will always be, lured by the same temptations Eve and Jesus experienced. Satan tempts with the lust of the flesh: such as sexual gratification, gluttony, addictions to drugs; and the “works of the flesh” (Gal.5: 19-21). He tempts with the lust of the eyes: the endless accumulation of “stuff” and the insatiable desire for possessions which ensnare and harden the heart to the things of God.

Satan’s most evil temptation is however the Pride of Life, the very sin that resulted in his expulsion from heaven after he desired to be God, rather than remain a servant of God (Isa.14:12-15). The pride of life is the multiplied projection of “self” – I, I, I. It expresses the desire for recognition, applause, status, and advantage in life. It describes the arrogant spirit of self-sufficiency. The boasting which constitutes the pride of life motivates the other two lusts as it seeks to elevate itself above all others. Therefore, it speaks of everything we desire to have, enjoy, or boast of: from sensualism and self-indulgence to self-conceit; the ungodly gratification of fleshly appetites, mental self-satisfaction, or egotistic arrogance. All false views of pleasure; false views of possession; and false views of superiority, constitute the pride of life. 

The pride of life is the root cause of strife in families, organisations, churches, and nations. It exalts the self in direct contradiction to Jesus’ call for those who follow Him to take up their cross and deny themselves. It stands in the way of becoming true, effective servants of God.