As a Christian, there are many times in life where I am faced with my own pride. I think it's our biggest hang-up as people, and the biggest and easiest way for Satan to get a grip on our lives.

We tend to think that if we are going to church, serving others, doing good things, etc-- that that is living a good Christian life. And our works are important, but our heart and our motivation behind those works is even more important. What concerns me is when we balk at doing things for the Lord simply because they make us uncomfortable. We say we love the Lord and we seem to be doing all the right things and saying all the right things... but are we truly following His commands for our lives and being obedient to Him - in our hearts?

God says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

You see, has God asked you to do something that you are refusing to do? Has He prompted your heart about obeying Him in a certain area and your pride has stubbornly kicked in and you refuse? Maybe it's something you don't see the purpose in, or an area that you feel is inconsequential. But you don't really know if it's inconsequential in God's sovereign plans for you, do you?

Whatever it is, we need to remember that if we claim to follow the Lord, we need to apply it daily. We must be constantly laying down our wills and trusting God with HIS will for our lives. It may seem inconsequential, irrelevant, or even purely silly to us. But we just don't know what God has in mind. Maybe He simply wants to see us step out in faith so He can bless us. Maybe you are denying yourself many blessings that He wants to give you because you refuse to lay down your pride! Maybe He wants to use you to bring someone else to the Lord. We are all being watched. We have no idea who is watching us and waiting to see if we will do something that is hard for us to do on behalf of our faith --- or if we simply use idle words to say we are believers and our actions don't follow through.

On the other hand, it doesn't matter how many good works we do for the Lord if we refuse to forgive a brother or sister and restore that relationship. It doesn't matter how much money we give to the church or missions if we can't control our daily lives enough to monitor the words we use in our home with our children or our spouse. It doesn't matter that we are saying and doing all of the right things if in our hearts, we are ignoring that persistent tug on our hearts and souls of the Lord telling us and instructing us to obey Him in a certain area of our faith and our life.

Pride. It has roots that grow deep into us and they are hard to sever at times.

I have to work on my own pride daily, hourly, every minute. I have to ask God to pray on my behalf when I find it hard to pray for someone else that truly has done wrong things to me. I have to work on my own pride when I don't get the recognition for hard work that I have done. I have to work on my own pride when I'm boosted in my self confidence for something I've done and the glory should go to the Lord instead of me.

But I feel so much closer to the Lord when I am able to set aside my own "self" for Him. I am able to hear Him more clearly because of my obedience, and my heart is more at rest.

I think we need to be very careful of claiming to love the Lord, but choosing our own will over His. That shows we don't believe in Him very much after all, because we think our own way is better.