Two Difficult Words to Say

Salvation is unattainable for a proud person, because it entails the humility of saying “I’m sorry. I was wrong.” That’s no easy feat for an ego-centric, self-righteous person. Man’s sinful pride is truly a killer. This is never so clear as in a marriage bust up. A husband or wife would rather keep their pride, and lose their children. They would rather destroy their marriage than apologize. That really stinks (I say that metaphorically). No wonder God “resists the proud.” No wonder “everyone that is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord.” However, it’s interesting to note from Scripture that salvation isn’t even attainable for a humble person. Even the humble need the hand of God to bring us to Christ. We may not have had the drama of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, but we had the same process. We were on the road to damnation, and God spoke to us through the gospel. He stopped us in our Hell-bent tracks. Jesus said that no man can come to the Son unless the Father draws him. If you are a Christian, you were drawn to the Son by the Father. God even helps us in our repentance (see 2 Timothy 2:25). We are like Lazarus (see John 11:39)--so dead that we stink to high Heaven. A proud person would never admit that. But by His grace, God calls our name, puts life into our dead bodies, then it’s up to us to come out of the tomb of this dark evil world, and live in the light as testimony to His amazing grace.