Pride Versus Brokenness

Pride grieves God.
Brokenness secures grace.                                

Pride sets you up for a fall.
Brokenness prepares the way for God’s favor.

Pride spawns competition.
Brokenness builds community.

Pride keeps you from praying.
Brokenness causes you to pray.

Pride blinds you to your wicked ways.
Brokenness opens your eyes to your wicked ways.

Pride keeps you from seeking God’s face.
Brokenness encourages you to seek God’s face.

Pride is characterized by a stiff neck.
Brokenness is exemplified by a bowed head.

Pride fragments families.
Brokenness reconciles families.

Pride generates contention.
Brokenness invites unity.

Pride is the mother of rebellion.
Brokenness is the heart of submission.

Pride glories in self will, self effort, and self exaltation.
Brokenness glories in the Cross.

Pride compares Self against others—“I am smarter than you…I am cleaner than you…l am stronger than you.”
Brokenness compares Self with Christ and concludes—“I am the chief of sinners.”

Pride reflects the nature of Satan.
Brokenness mirrors the image of Christ.

Pride takes credit for accomplishments.
Brokenness recognizes all good accomplishments have their source outside of Self.

Pride seeks recognition from men.
Brokenness seeks approval from God.

Pride will make you cover up and hide from others.
Brokenness frees you to be transparent and honest.

Pride leads you to blame circumstances or others for your failure.
Brokenness accepts responsibility for failure.

Pride breeds suspicion of fellow believers.
Brokenness brings more suspicion of Self than anyone else.

Pride makes you think more highly of yourself.
Brokenness enables you to think more highly of others.

Pride is quick to detect pride in others.
Brokenness is quick to identify pride in oneself.

Pride makes you critical.
Brokenness makes you compassionate.

Pride hastily applies preaching to others.
Brokenness is quick to internalize preaching.

Pride easily detects the speck in your brother’s eye.
Brokenness readily detects the beam in your own eye.

Pride believes you are a good person who happened to do some bad things.
Brokenness realizes you are a sinner through-and-through.

Pride puffs up and swells your head.
Brokenness brings perspective and breaks your heart.

Pride deals with sin in general.
Brokenness deals with sin in specifics.

Pride deals with the fruit of sin.
Brokenness deals with the root of sin.

Pride will cause you to deal with things that are respectable.
Brokenness causes you to deal with what is real.

Pride brings crustiness and hardness.
Brokenness brings pliability.

Pride is consumed with “I”.
Brokenness is concerned with “Not I, but Christ.”

Pride seeks prominence for Self.
Brokenness seeks the preeminence of Christ.

Pride makes the faults of others look BIG and my faults look small.
Brokenness makes my sins look BIG and the faults of others seem small.

Pride defends its rights.
Brokenness dies to its rights.

Pride makes me look down on others.
Brokenness makes me look up to heaven.

Pride keeps me from asking forgiveness when I have been wrong.
Brokenness makes me eager to humble myself when I have done wrong.

Pride breeds complacency.
Brokenness births hunger and thirst for new spiritual horizons.

Pride covers sin.
Brokenness discovers sin.

Pride barricades you from God.
Brokenness demolishes the barrier between you and God.

Pride builds a wall between us and others.
Brokenness builds bridges between us and others.

Pride disregards the Chief Cornerstone.
Brokenness falls upon the Chief Cornerstone.


Lord, bend this proud and stiff-necked I,

   Help me to bow the head and die.

That it may no longer be I,

   But Christ that lives in me.

4 Comments

  1. DougMay 2, 2014

    All true and perhaps the key reason why I don’t have personal revival. I need to read this again on my knees.
    Thanks Brother Vaughn

    Reply
  2. GingerMay 1, 2014

    It was at the 2013 Ladies Prayer Advance that GOD dealt with me about PRIDE and since then HE continually prunes me of such. The more HE REVEALS it within me, the more I see and understand, with my limited ability, why GOD HATES PRIDE so much! Who would have thought that even in ZEAL for our LORD, HIS WORK and MINISTRY could be masked/disguised with something so wicked as PRIDE (aka self righteousness, the need to be right, not mixed with His grace and mercy, in neglect of family etc.) As I read through PRIDE vs BROKENNESS, I praise my GOD for the areas in which HE alone has brought deliverance, but desperately weep over the areas that are still yet to be conquered! I never cease to be devastated at the depth of sinfulness my own heart is capable of! It is by GRACE through FAITH in HIM alone that SAVED us, and since then, continues to daily SANCTIFY us! I pray for that same GRACE through FAITH in HIM and HIS promise to us, that HE WILL FILL us to enable us to WALK with HIM, as it is this FAITH (His faith in us – CHRIST IN US) alone that pleases GOD. It is only then, HIS perfect LOVE shed abroad in our hearts, that loving OBEDIENCE will naturally flow from us to keep HIS commandments. It is NOT OBEDIENCE that brings about LOVE in our hearts but rather HIS LOVE filled to its fullness in our hearts that OBEDIENCE will naturally flow. Nothing has changed. Nothing IN us, OF us or ACCOMPLISHED through us is acceptable to GOD. It is only by HIS GRACE, HIS FAITH, the BLOOD of HIS SON JESUS CHRIST and the SEALING and FILLING of HIS SPIRIT that is accepted and pleasing to our GOD! Thank you JESUS for your AMAZING GRACE and ENDLESS MERCIES! May I NEVER forget how desperately wicked my heart is without HIM, and may HE EVER reveal HIS GRACE and MERCY toward us until we SEE HIM FACE to FACE!

    Reply
  3. HollyApril 30, 2014

    So convicting and so encouraging…Thank you!

    Reply
  4. VivienneApril 30, 2014

    This is a true blessing, while reading I can apply so much to my own life . Thank God Almighty for His Spirit convicting me, now I can ask for forgiveness.

    Reply

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Harold Vaughan

View posts by Harold Vaughan
Evangelist Harold Vaughan is the founder of Christ Life Ministries, Inc. To date, his ministry has led him to preach in forty-eight states and many foreign countries. Click on "ABOUT" in the menu bar to learn more about Harold.
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