When a person has a lot of pride and arrogance, they will always find a way to boost themselves above others. It isn’t uncommon for an arrogant person to think that he or she knows it all. They must be right all the time and will belittle or devalue the opinions and knowledge of others to look superior. There’s a big difference between arrogance and confidence, and an arrogant person doesn’t understand this. Confidence comes from an appreciation of the abilities and qualities that God has given. It’s an assurance of one’s self that isn’t plagued with doubt and uncertainty and is proven by experience. Arrogance is devoid of gratitude and self-assurance. It is the need to hide behind and push a lie about one’s own ability and qualities at all cost.
Many abusers are arrogant and make victims of those who might expose their shortcomings or pose a challenge to their high opinion of themselves. Their attitude of superiority is often overbearing and leaves no room for anyone other than themselves. The abuser will not face the truth about this, and sometimes the person being abused will not face it either. We don’t want to deal with the reality that the significant person in our lives is arrogant, and they are not treating us well because of it.
The put downs, feeling less than, and having to always be on guard can exhaust us, but we are not without help. The web that arrogance weaves isn’t pretty. It’s tangled and feels hard to dismantle, but we can through the strength of Jesus Christ. He is our hope, and we can access his power and help through prayer, reading and meditating on God’s Word, and confessing what God says over our situations. We can renew our minds by thinking thoughts that are aligned with faith. This requires us to do what God says in Philippians 4:8(NLT), which is to “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” This is the way to begin the process of dismantling the web of arrogance that tries to trap us. We need to be ferocious about God’s peace and power, and we can stake a claim with all that we are to move within them confidently.
People hold on to an arrogant mindset because they believe it serves them. It doesn’t. It injures our souls and that is why we must give it up. Arrogance drains and depletes an individual of grace and mobility. It’s a downer on our lives. Romans 12:3(NLT) warns, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” God doesn’t like arrogance, and as we pray for His help, we must understand this. Romans 12:3 tells us the attitude and heart that God requires, and it is that none of us should think we are better than we really are.
Honestly, there have been times for all of us when we have violated this. We have had arrogant thoughts and attitudes, and we must ask God to forgive us and be committed to root it out of our hearts. Our Heaven Father requires us to humble ourselves and make the necessary adjustment in our own thinking and behaving to demonstrate the humility of Christ.
1Corinthians 4:20(NLT) tells us, “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” As God’s children, we are not spiritual weaklings. We are filled with His Spirit and through the Spirit, we can live with power! One of the things that prevents us from fully walking in the Spirit’s power, though, is wrong believing about the nature and goodness of God. Sometimes we attribute characteristics and actions to Him, when it is the devil who does evil against us. So, the wrong belief about who God is and what He will do, we have to give it up and release it from our minds and hearts.
God doesn’t want any person to be abused. Many people have been taught or led to believe that God is angry with us because of our mistakes. Some believe that He punishes us with pain and suffering, and this is not true. It’s not who God is. 1John 4:16(NLT) tells us, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” God is love. He is holy, pure, perfect, all-knowing, and all-powerful. There isn’t anything that He cannot do, but He only does those things that are within the boundaries of His love. 1John 1:5(NLT) tells us, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” This is God’s truth! This is who He is! He doesn’t punish people; He wants our joy to be full because we belong to Him. He’s our hope, and He will never let us down! Because of Jesus Christ and what God accomplished through him, we can live in God, and as we do, we keep growing and becoming the version of ourselves that God desires us to be.
Either because we feel powerless and weak or we just don’t want to deal with the person staring back at us, most of us find it very difficult to think that we are our greatest asset, and that through Jesus Christ, life can get better. We’re in shock that our life’s choices and decisions have betrayed us to such a devastating degree, but although things feel impossible at times, they are not. You must make a faith move and give up those things that hold you back, because they keep your mind stuck in the past. A victorious strategy is to invite the love of God into our situations and make this a habit pattern. Pray, speak and think thoughts that lift you up and invite God’s love to have greater room in our life. Arrogance has its roots in believing the wrong things about God and ourselves. Make a change, and you will discover that God will reward even the smallest step you take to release arrogance from your life.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Give It Up”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!
