I love listening to Pastor Alistair Begg. I recently bought one of his books, titled, “On Being a Pastor.” As I was reading it, I came across something that struck me as profound. He wrote, “The energies of our enemy, Satan, are always directed at making a bad thing of a good thing!” (P.102 – “On Being a Pastor “, Moody Press, © 2004, Chicago) Pastor Begg was referring to how even studying the Bible can become a bad thing, if it causes us to think of ourselves as experts. This then becomes a path to personal pride. It’s good to have knowledge – to be expert at most things. This benefits us as well as others. However, when being expert at anything entices us into prideful attitudes, we become susceptible to the destruction it can bring to us, and those around us. Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) says, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”
The remedy for pride is always humility. We find humility in our understanding of God and His saving grace. Our personal humility is our guarantee that we can be expertly handle those things in which God has gifted us; and, then effectively use our gifts for good personal success and as a vehicle to reveal His glory. Doing this prevents Satan from any opportunity to bring evil into what God intends for good. We become victors, not victims.