When people are asked, “What is the greatest sin?” We tend to think of murder, sexual immorality, abuse, etc. Believers and non-believers alike can list many major sin offenses. And in the church world, many people draw lines/boundaries around sin, sometimes in very legalistic and harsh ways, all the while missing the greatest sin…

The greatest sin is PRIDE.

Pride is the exaltation of self. Pride was the first sin found in Lucifer’s heart before his fall. Pride is what Lucifer enticed Eve and then Adam with. Pride is rebellion from God. Pride is rebellion from God’s order.

Pride puts self at the center, as god, pushing God out of the center. Or rather, pride pushes God off the altar of our heart and puts the self on that altar: self-centeredness is self-idolatry.

Pride starts in our thoughts, in our hearts (the same as Lucifer). Thoughts become words. Words become actions, behaviors, and then our way of living. We create our life out of our heart. Our thoughts create our lived reality.

Pride’s deceit lies in the many mental gymnastics we play with our conscience when we self-excuse and defend our thoughts that are contrary to God’s. It is this practice that builds strongholds (mindsets) in us that weaken us and lead us to sin.

Any habitual excusing away of our need for submission, humility, and repentance before God, shows we are our own mini-god in the making.

Pride is the most destructive force on the planet. Pride’s continual enticement is to lead people to live self-gratifying, self-serving, self-seeking lives daily. Allowed to run rampant, pride becomes all-consuming in a person… and that’s the point, the enemy seeks to “consume” us with the same thing that was his downfall.

All other sin is merely what is conceived (given birth to) from pride. All other sins are manifestations of the original rebellion from God: pride.

Pride is the exaltation of self. Every other problem in humanity flows from this. It was the first sin that opened the door to all other sin.

BUT…

Worship exalts God. (God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.)

Continually giving ourselves in worship—which is what we were created for—realigns our hearts back to being focused upon God as the source of life.

Worship supplants the self from the center and puts Jesus right back there. Worship is a means of doing war against the pride that can creep in unnoticed. Worship is resistance to creeping pride. We are told, “Submit yourselves (again and again) to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Js 4:7).

We were given Lucifer’s place. He was originally designed/purposed as the anointed worship leader in all of Heaven. That’s a high call. But he fell into pride—self-exaltation. His pride led to rebellion in Heaven, causing the first war, a mutiny against God. Many angels rebelled with Lucifer.

We have been designed, purposed, and called to reverse what pride did/does.

The Father seeks worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:26). Worship that is pure and sincere and true, coming from vessels that are undivided and undefiled destroys the enemy kingdom, destroys his plans and schemes. It destroys any tendencies to pride and rebellion in our own hearts.

Worship is the antidote to pride. Worship is surrender. Worship is the willingness to repent, give up any self-fulfilling, self-exalting ways, and live in loving obedience to God, having an undivided heart that is aligned with His heart.

This is why worship is so confronting for many people (believers included). True and sincere worship is an offense to our pride. Worship confronts the mindsets that allow pride to flourish in a heart. To engage the heart of Jesus in worship, we are first asked to remove our self from our own altar. We are asked to step aside and realize we are not god. We are asked to give that place wholly to Jesus. People who are unwilling to do this will not worship. They cannot. They may go through the motions and be great pretenders. But God sees it all. He knows us completely…

From God’s heart, there is a continual and gentle invitation to lay aside all the human pride that separates us from Him and to realign our heart back to His. When we say yes to this, and move into that process of surrender, repentance, and humility, then we can begin to worship in Spirit and in Truth. In this place, we are healed and made whole and learn to stay very close to His heart.