Daily Lesson for Sunday 12th of April 2026

Pride. When you think of this word, you might picture a proud politician, a rich or famous person, or a peacock. Pride is a feeling that you are more important or better than other people. Indeed, pride is a ­feeling—one that cannot, and should not, be relied upon.

Image © Theater of the Universe Collection at Goodsalt.com

Pride first began with Lucifer, the covering cherub, who was in close service to God. We don’t know when or how those thoughts of selfishness crept into his heart, but we do know that these thoughts propelled the universe into what we know as the great controversy. We see that Satan is the opposite of God. (Compare Isaiah 14:12-14 and Philippians 2:5-11.) As a result, our world has battled the consequences of sin ever since Satan planted doubt in Adam’s and Eve’s minds and then tempted them to love and trust self above God.

Can pride ever be positive? Perhaps not in the context that we know it, although we might use the word positively, when speaking about a person’s achievements or in the context of a deep appreciation for something someone has done (“I’m so proud of you!”). It’s important to understand that pursuing excellence and acknowledging and appreciating the gifts and abilities God has given us is not necessarily being proud. According to Scripture, there is a proper kind of self-love (think about Jesus’ command in Mark 12:31, where He says to love others as we love ourselves), but this is always unselfish love. People are also not proud when they have God’s presence in their lives and have a purposeful direction (see 1 Timothy 3:1). People are proud when they don’t give God the glory for what He is doing in their lives.

We should be careful to remember that our possessions, abilities, and accomplishments don’t determine our value. Instead, our value should always come from God, because everything that we have, even that which tempts us to pride, comes only from Him anyway. This is a point we must never forget.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26b-03-the-tight-fingers-of-pride/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26b-03-the-tight-fingers-of-pride

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 11th of April 2026

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study:

1 John 2:15-17, Luke 18:9-14, 1 John 1:9, Hebrews 11:24-26, Luke 22:24-27, Philippians 2:3-8.

Memory Text:

“ ‘For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted’ ” (Luke 14:11, NKJV).

W e’ve all known people with big egos, those who think they are never wrong. Or perhaps you know someone who wants to be in control, who never is open to instruction or constructive criticism. Or someone who seems to be constantly in conflict or is a master of putting others down. Our minds might immediately think of others, but the real question is: What about each one of us? By pointing the finger at others and denying pride in our own life, we deceive ourselves.

We’ve all battled with pride. We’ve all experienced times we want to look, act, speak, or appear better than those around us because we believe that we are better than they are, at least in some way. Someone once said that pride emerges from the desire to show that our lives have value. Yet, we should already know that our lives have value because we were created by God, and we are those for whom Christ died.

This week we’ll explore the impact that pride can have on our relationships with God and with others, and we’ll look at what the Bible teaches us about humility before others and, of course, before God.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 18.

Sunday–>

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/26b-03-pride-versus-humility/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=26b-03-pride-versus-humility