Ego & Pride
Seek the Truth with all your heart.
Egotistical and proud people are anathema to GOD, because without humility and a soft heart one cannot please GOD nor have a yearning to seek HIM.
The elements of the ego and pride are deadly to our soul because they waste and de-generate its energy. They are: pride, greed, sloth, gluttony, wrath (rage), envy, lust, lying, stealing, self-worship, and a haughty mind.
Ego and pride create temporary desires and distorted values that deny long term happiness and health. Out-of-control ego was Satan’s problem which distorted his values, reasoning, and relationship with GOD in heaven; and became the reason for his being ejected from heaven.
The false perceptions of ego cause one to lie (bear false witness) to others, causing false impressions; deceiving others, and deceiving one’s-self; constantly trying to impress, trying to uphold, defend, and protect an image. In the end it is wearisome, draining, unproductive, false, and a burden to carry.
A proud person is always walking through life looking down on other people, and as a result, they cannot see someone above themselves who is immeasurably superior - namely GOD.
This is not suggesting that we offload a healthy personal esteem, healthy confidence, and conscious awareness.
Some people have egos that require their existence to be more mysterious and complex. To them, the simplicity with which we were created is humiliating, so they strive and seek dimensions which GOD has withheld from us for our own benefit. So it is futile to try to delve into hidden secrets.
Concentrate on delving into GOD’s scriptures; and those who gain entry into GOD’s kingdom will have everything revealed to them, which will include far more than they ever dreamed might exist, beyond this Earthly life and reality. Do not allow Satan to prompt you into discontentment.
An open, honest, GOD-ly life leads to enlightenment and a renewed heart. Empty yourself of ego and give GOD the glory for every blessing and way of help you have been able to be for others.
Psalm 18:27 ‘YOU save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.’
Proverbs 8:13 ‘To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour, and perverse speech.’
Proverbs 16:5 ‘The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.’
Proverbs 16:18 ‘Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.’
Proverbs 21:24 ‘The proud and arrogant person; “Mocker” is their name; behaves with overwhelming pride (insolent fury.’)
Proverbs 27:2 ‘Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.’
Proverbs 28:25-26 ‘The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the LORD will prosper.
Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.’
Proverbs 29:11 ‘Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.’
Proverbs 29:23 ‘A person’s pride brings them low, but a person of lowly spirit gains honour.’
Romans 12:3 ‘For by grace I say to every one of you: “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith GOD has given you.”
1 Corinthians 8:1 ‘Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The person who thinks they know something does not yet know as they ought to know. But the person who loves GOD is known by GOD.’
Galatians 6:3 ‘For if anyone thinks they are something when they are nothing, they deceive them-self.’
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 "Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your GOD, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that HE may confirm HIS covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
Isaiah 16:6 ‘We have heard of Moab’s pride; her overwhelming pride and conceit, her pride and her insolence; but her boasts are empty.’
Isaiah 47:10 ‘You felt secure in your wickedness and said, “No one sees me,” Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; for you have said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.”
Jeremiah 49:16 "As for the terror of you, The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, O you who live in the clefts of the rock, Who occupy the height of the hill Though you make your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there," declares the LORD.’
1 Corinthians 8:2 ‘If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know.’
1 Timothy 6:3-5 ‘If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that Godliness is a means to financial gain.’
Deuteronomy 8:14 ‘- then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your GOD who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.’
Nehemiah 9:16 ‘But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; they became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.’
Psalm 36:1-2 ‘An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: there is no fear of GOD before their eyes. For in their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.’
Psalm 10:3 ‘He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.’
Psalm 52:1 ‘Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast all day long,
You who are a disgrace in the eyes of GOD?
Daniel 5:20 ‘But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.’
Psalm 119:85 ‘The arrogant dig pitfalls for me, contrary to your law.’
Psalm 73:8 ‘They scoff, and speak with malice, in their arrogance they threaten oppression.’
Psalm 140:5 ‘Proud men have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cods of their net and have set traps for me along my path.’
Psalm 123:4 ‘We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.’
Psalm 119:50-51 ‘My comfort in my sufferings is this: YOUR promise preserves my life. The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from YOUR law.’
Psalm 73:6 ‘Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.’
Psalm 119:78 ‘May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts.’
Psalm 10:2-4 ‘In their arrogance the wicked person hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes they devise. They boast of the cravings of their heart, they bless the greedy and revile the LORD. In their pride the wicked do not seek HIM; in all their thoughts there is no room for GOD.’
Habakkuk 2:4-5 ‘See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright; but the righteous will live by his faith; indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.’
Proverbs 16:5 ‘The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.’
2 Samuel 22:28 ‘YOU save the humble, but YOUR eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.’
Psalm 18:27 ‘YOU save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.’
Job 40:11-12 ‘Unleash the fury of YOUR wrath, look at every proud person and bring them low, look at every proud person and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.’
Psalm 31:23 ‘Love the LORD, all HIS saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud HE pays back in full.’
Psalm 101:5 ‘Whoever slanders their neighbour in secret, them will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, them will I not endure.’
Proverbs 11:2 ‘When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.’
Proverbs 26:12 ‘Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.’
Psalm 62:9 ‘Lowborn people are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.’
Proverbs 29:23 ‘A man's pride brings him low, But a humble spirit gains honour.’
Isaiah 2:11-12 ‘The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty for all that is exalted, and they will be humbled.’
Isaiah 13:11 ‘I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins, I will also put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.’