The Problem of Being Puffed Up

 “Swollen with Conceit”

(2 Timothy 3:4)

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, ...

Swollen

What is it that fills your head today? There are many enticements that would take you away from your first love, the Messiah who has purchased you with His blood.

The lusts of the flesh demand your attention, but they will disappoint you in the end. This world is fleeting, and so are the lusts in it. A second category of desire that can distract you is the lust of the eyes. To see is to know. We want to know. The bad lust to know especially concerns those things that we cannot know. God can grant us a more eager desire for the things that He has revealed in His Word. That would be healthy. But an eager desire for what cannot be known will only be debilitating. You will find out soon enough. Reading the tea leaves will not help you. It is the lust of the eyes.

with Conceit

But in addition to these lusts, there is at least one more that can swell up your heart, mind, and soul. The pride of your life in this fleeting existence can capture you and enslave you. This kind of worldly pride is an enemy, not a friend. It fills the temple of your head with self, a development that is pleasing not to the Lord who loves you, but to the proud spirit, the prince of the air, who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. His way is not the way of life.

The antidote for this death is the humility of the cross. The message of the cross is a humbling message. Our part in it is to provide the sin. Christ's part is to supply the righteousness, the love, the courage, and the divine satisfaction that speaks peace to our souls forever. This mind needs to be in us, the mind that was in Christ Jesus.

To fill your head with foolish pride is about as satisfying as filling your belly with air. You may get swollen, but it will surely pass, and you will be left with nothing. Pride is a blinding fog. We cannot even see where we need to go. Eventually we have to pull over.

But now the light has come. He dwelt among us, and then He died for our sins. We need Him, and we need to boast in His cross. This clears away the fog so that we can continue on the way of faith. When the church loses sight of the cross of Christ, she has no good news, and no power of the resurrection.

In the last days, people will be swollen with pride. But this is not the way that you learned Christ. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, our pride will look very foolish. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Come to Christ again now and be filled with His Holy Spirit. If you will be filled with the Spirit of heaven, how will you have any room left in your soul for the foolish pride that is so characteristic of this passing world?