[Spiritual Love Series] Love Is Not Arrogant
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September 23, 2012 |
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 "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant." (1 Corinthians 13:4)
Faith and hope are temporarily needed to reach Heaven, but love is eternal. That's why, of faith, hope, and love; love is the greatest. Among the 15 characteristics of spiritual love presented in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the fifth one is 'not arrogant.' The Bible tells us that one of the evil attributes that God especially hates is arrogance.
1. The characteristics of an arrogant man
Here, 'arrogance' is not to regard others as more important than us but to ignore them and consider us better than them in every aspect.' Arrogant people feel superior to others. They tend to look down on others and direct and instruct them all the time. They usually act arrogantly to people who seem less important than themselves, but sometimes they even ignore their superiors.
When you have a talk with these people, it often leads to speculations and quarrels. What's worse is that they may burst out in anger, insisting they are right. And it then becomes a fight. Proverbs 13:10 reads, "Through insolence comes nothing but strife, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel." 2 Timothy 2:23 says, "But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels."
People have different consciences and knowledge because each individual has seen, heard, learned, and experienced different things. What the arrogant have learned, in fact, is fraught with errors. If the erroneous knowledge becomes hardened over a long period of time, it forms self-righteousness and self-frameworks.
Here, 'self-righteousness' is claiming you are right, which solidifies into a self-framework over time. Your personality or your knowledge can harden into such self-frameworks. It forms your 'self.' Because it is like a sturdy structure, it is hard to destroy a self-framework once it is established.
Let's suppose one has a sense of inferiority. He sees a rich man adjust his tie. Then, he thinks the rich man is just showing off his clothing. Or when someone uses a difficult expression around him, he feels it was used in disregard for him.
An arrogant man doesn't admit his mistake and he insists on his ideas, which usually leads to speculations. On the contrary, a humble man doesn't make quarrels even if he is really right and others are wrong. Even if he personally has 100% assurance of his idea, he still feels that he might be wrong. This is because he doesn't have any desire to dominate others.
If you have a humble heart, it means you have spiritual love that regards others as more important than you. You consider them better than yourself from your heart though they may be poor, less educated, and weak. You are considerate of even little children. This is because you think that souls are all precious as God's children who were saved by the price of Jesus' blood.
2. Fleshly arrogance and spiritual arrogance
We can easily find outward arrogant actions like bragging or neglecting others in us. These attributes are 'fleshly arrogance.' Most of Christians try to get rid of them as soon as they accept Jesus Christ and come to know the truth. Spiritual arrogance, on the other hand, is not easy to find and to cast off.
Then, what is 'spiritual arrogance'? If you have been a Christian for long, you may have a lot of knowledge of the Bible. You are given titles and duties and become a leader. In the meantime, some of you mistakenly think you have cultivated your heart with the Word of God though it just remains as knowledge. And you might think you just discern between right and wrong by the truth even though you are actually pointing out others' faults and passing judgment and condemnation on them.
Some people ignore certain orders they should abide by for their own benefits. They evidently break the rule, but they think, "I am an exception because I am in this high position." This kind of lofty heart is considered 'spiritual arrogance.' If you ignore the law and order of God with such a lofty heart, it can't be true that you love God. If you pass judgment or condemnation, you can't be said to have true love.
Everybody has this attribute of arrogance to some extent before he/she becomes sanctified. Thus, it's really important for us to pull out its root. If you don't pull it out completely through the fire-like prayer, you get conceited without knowing it. It's like a weed sprouts again even after we have cut it if we haven't pulled its roots out. In other words, if we don't pull out the sinful nature completely, pride comes to our hearts again throughout our Christian lives.
Therefore, we should always humble ourselves before the Lord like children, regard one another as important as ourselves, and unchangingly run until we achieve the best love that serves with our lives.
3. Arrogant men who trust themselves
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonian Empire, opened up the golden era of the empire. In his time, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was constructed. He thought it was himself who built such a great kingdom and he was credited with all the contributions. He even made people worship him as a god. God finally let arrogant king recognize that God is the Ruler over the realm of mankind (Daniel 4:30-32).
The king ended up being driven away from his palace. He ate grass like cattle, and his hair had grown like eagles' feathers for seven years. After this, his sanity was restored. He realized his arrogance and recognized God (Daniel 4:33-37).
Many unbelievers as well as king Nebuchadnezzar say they trust only themselves. But they run into many problems that can't be resolved by human ability in their lives. Although science and medicine have been remarkably developed, there is no way to stop natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes, or newly-discovered diseases.
What's worse is that even some believers still rely on themselves or take the worldly measures. God wants to help them, but He can't do so unless men humble themselves. Then, they can't be protected by Him from the enemy devil and Satan and they can't be guided to prosperous ways.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
God says an arrogant man is foolish. All mankind is just mere creatures before God who is great. Even if you have a lot of things to boast of, the life on the earth is temporary and there will be the Judgment for sure.
We will be exalted more in Heaven to the extent that we humble ourselves in the presence of God and serve Him. This is because the Lord will exalt you as recorded in James 4:10, "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." Therefore, humble yourselves. I pray in the name of the Lord that by doing so you will be a great and precious man before God.
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