Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope for a fool than of him.
Proverbs 26:12
What is so bad about conceit? Isn't a little bit of self-confidence good for us? and what about boldness? Doesn't scripture say to be bold?
When we are conceited, our heart, mind and often our mouth are saying "I did it”. In that thought, we are, in our achievement, self-promoting instead of promoting God.
To boil it down, we are actually saying, “I Am!”
Exodus 3:14 shows us that “I Am” is one of God’s names. “And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you."
In Genesis 15:1, God says to Abram (Abraham’s name before God changed it), “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” When we brag, it’s as if we are someone’s saviour and great reward. We help people but their great reward is God within us, not us.
In Genesis 17:1, God also said, “…I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
When we use the words I Am or I Can or I Did in relation to conceit, we not only put ourselves in the place of God by taking His name but desire the wonderment and adoration that goes with Him. Our mind is far from perfect and we are not as righteous as we think we are.
Also, in an odd way in this conceit, we are taking God’s name in vain. Our words are vanity, and we are putting ourselves on the pedestal where He should be.
Conceit is one of the offspring of Satan, and the express reason he was discharged from Heaven. In essence, God tossed conceit out of Heaven as it is not one of the fruit of the spirit, and cannot abide there.
As we are building our temple, if we have left conceit in our make-up, we are not building according to the blueprint, and that part of us will be cleansed out by burning. Spiritually speaking, and we will be at loss. (1 Corinthians 3)
What does God prefer?
We don’t merely want to change our words to “The Lord got me to do this, and the Lord got me to do that!” because that is still self-exaltation.
The state of our heart is the problem area. It is the causal factor and the place we need the engage and change.
Jesus didn’t grow up in this world with conceit. The opposite of conceit is humility, which is a learned quality. We would be better off spending our time completely eliminating our pride and filling ourselves with humility and meekness, which is Godly. The Lord says the first shall be last, and this is just another overcoming in our walk.
Today’s prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for this verse. I have been conceited many times in my life as I pushed myself upward. Please help me to look on the words I say and particularly the intentions in my heart and mind as I craft words. Please help me have no guile or self-honour in my being.
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