Spiritual Pride

What did Jesus hate about the Pharisees? 

Their pride. 

The Bible says that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Do we have modern Pharisees in our church? 

Yes.  Several.

Just about every denomination has something that they get pretty prideful about.

In the same way the "once saved, always saved" theory can lead many to a life of license, so can the gift of speaking on tongues. 

One of my past boyfriends and his family literally told me I wasn't saved because I didn't have the gift of tongues.  I was appalled and quite angry about that needless to say. 

My current husband does not have that belief though, praise God.

But I saw with the past boyfriend that he then seem to feel like he could live however he wanted.  Most of his radio stations were programmed to hip hop/rap stations.  He loved material things a bit too much.  He had an excessive amount of shoes, ties, cologne etc and loved shopping. 

The reason he broke up with me was literally because I did not like shopping as much as he did. lol  I pointed out the verse to him many times, "Do not love the world or anything in the world."  But he didn't think he had a problem in his walk with God.  Why?  Because he prayed in tongues. 

People can tend to think, "I have the gift of tongues so I can live however I want now right?  I know I'm saved now."

The same is true for those who believe in the once saved, always saved theory.  "I'm already saved so now how I walk my Christian walk doesn't matter right?  I'm saved no matter what I do right?"

And there are several others.  Baptists have baptism as their source of pride.  Once you are baptized you are for sure saved.  So people get baptized and live however they want.  They THINK they are saved but are they really.

No where in the Bible does it say baptism is necessary for salvation.  The thief on the cross got to go to heaven and he was never baptized. 
 
No where in the Bible does it say tongues are necessary for salvation or even for having a better walk with Christ.
 
And there are verses that seem to say once we are saved, we are always saved, but the majority of verses make it sound like one's salvation can be lost. 

I heard in a sermon once that the most dangerous place to be in the church is thinking that you are saved when you really are not. 

I know for sure that I am saved at this point in time.  Why?  Not because I have been baptized or have a spiritual gift or because I have the Holy Spirit now so I assume I always will.  No, it is because I generally love people and show it and I know I love the Lord my God with my whole heart, mind, body, soul and strength.  There is nothing that I love more than God.

I used to have some idols, but God stripped them away one by one.  I had an idol of sports and my athletic ability.  I had an idol of music and my singing voice.  I had an idol of intellectualism and how smart I could be and my good grades.  I used to have an idol of relationships and always thinking about guys and wanting a husband.  My mom was even an idol for me for awhile I think.  I had an idol of my appearance and pride over how I looked. 

But all of those idols are gone now.  I don't care about how well I play sports, or how well I sing, or how smart I am, or how I look; I know all those are gifts from God and I can't really take credit for any of them anyways.  The only thing that matters to me now is making God known to others.  That is all I care about. :)   

"Go into all the world and make disciples."  That is all I think about now. :)