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We all know from John 3:16 that our Almighty God, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is one who genuinely loves, but it is reprehensible to some to suggest this same loving God is one who also hates. His all-encompassing love is manifested from cover-to-cover, woven throughout the scriptures with an extended invitation for all to come and make their abode with Him eternally.

This same loving merciful God has a side that is oftentimes overlooked, misinterpreted, or just winked at. This Great Creator is often misrepresented as one in heaven showering everyone with blessings while turning a blind eye to sin.

He used Solomon in Proverbs 6:16-19 to compile a list of the Seven Deadly Sins that are totally abhorrent to His character. The number seven here is a sign of completeness and God is saying He has a righteous and complete hatred of these sins.

The seven sins are as follows: 1). proud look or pride, 2). a lying tongue, 3). hands that shed innocent blood, 4). a heart that devises wicked plans or evil imaginations, 5). feet that run swiftly to mischief, 6). a false witness who speaks lies, 7). one who sows discord within the church as well as between family members or neighbors.

When God, the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16) dictated His list to Solomon in Proverbs 6:16-19, it was not a coincidence that “a proud look or pride” rose to the pinnacle of the pyramid. According to Psalms 103:4, the Lord knows we are just dust, and it pains Him to watch dust deifying itself.

A good dictionary definition of pride is an over-evaluation of self and undervaluation of others, or an excessively high opinion of oneself, conceited, arrogant. This sin of pride is often misconstrued as someone with just a bad attitude or just being plain uppity or snobbish. Regardless, of our evaluation, it is Almighty God who labels it a sin for it violates His character. And He has no reservations about condemning pride as a sin and apologizes to no one for doing so.

God has many legitimate reasons for having pride at the top of the sins that He so intensely hates. For openers, the first or original sin was pride, and it was committed not by man, but by Lucifer, the highest angel God had created. God revealed this awful sin to the prophet, Isaiah 14:12-16, and the incredible details of this folly.

Lucifer was given the highest position among the angels and was the protector of God’s throne in heaven. But he coveted the adoration and worship that only the creator deserves and deceived one-third of the myriad of angels to join him in an attempt to sit alongside Almighty God. One of the five “I Wills” Lucifer sprouted out was “I will be like the Most High”.

Ezekiel 28:11-19 sums up why this angelic being decided to formulate a rebellion against his Creator. Verse 17 states Lucifer’s heart was lifted up with pride because he was so beautiful, and that pride corrupted his wisdom.

Lucifer the anointed cherub now becomes Satan, the adversary or enemy of God. This was sin in embryo, the evolution of evil, hatched by this beautiful but prideful creature.
When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan seized upon this opportunity to corrupt God’s plan and dangled that carrot of pride, that of becoming a god before Adam and Eve and it led to the fall and corruption of all mankind.

That sin of pride manifested itself immediately in the first offspring of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Abel. Adam’s family, including his sons, all knew what sacrifice God required. Nevertheless, Abel obeyed God, but prideful Cain disobeyed God and did it his way, just like his mom and dad.

That same pride drove Nebuchadnezzar out of his kingdom, Saul off his throne, Adam out of paradise, Haman out of court, and Lucifer out of heaven.

We are all familiar with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, seemingly for sexual perversion, but when scripture is further examined in Ezekiel 16:49, it’s revealed that pride was the root cause of their abominations.

God states in James 4:6 that “He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble”. Also, in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.”
God bluntly states in Proverbs 16:18, that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is up to each of us how we manage “this sin” of human nature . . pride. I am so thankful that God is not as we are . . . Proud. He is merciful and will accept any of us even though we at times place our vocations, possessions, money, and family ahead of Him. Jesus is waiting to rescue.