Our Chief Entangling Sin, part 3

“…let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NASB)


What is our “Chief Entangling Sin?”
What is the one sin that most tangles us up, trips us up, and causes us to stumble, if not utterly fall? We may be, at this very moment, thinking of one thing or another—a particular temptation that has been especially strong or some grievous error that has been repeated day by day—yet, as powerful as those things may be, that truly entangling sin to which we are powerfully tempted, as vile and wicked and evil as yielding would be…still, that thing we have in mind may not be our chief entangling sin.

It is my belief that all the sons of Adam have one chief besetting sin—it is the same for all. It is chief among our entangling sins because it keeps us under the power of many sins—it prevents us from recognizing faults and failings and wrongdoings as sins against God for which we need forgiveness and concerning which we must repent and change. Instead, this chief sin keeps us away from the truth and evermore occupied with appearances. Under its influence, we regard serious sins as nothing worse than blunders, boo-boos, mistakes, and errors.

I have intentionally refrained from identifying this great sin until now, but the time has come. It is PRIDE! The reason for the delay in its identification is simple: had it been mentioned much earlier, the whole time between then and now our proud hearts would have labored to exhaustion in order to excuse our sinful, self-indulgent, self-exalting pride—O’ may the Spirit of God make us understand what an awful evil pride is and what a snare it is to our souls!

When the Apostle John spoke of pride as the very soul of worldliness, it was ‘the capper’, the sin that punctuated and accentuated every other sin. Just as when Satan first tempted Eve, so it is now. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes are, in a manner of speaking, rounded out by the sinful pride of life. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6 NKJV). Observe the parallels between Eve’s temptation and the nature of worldliness; both have identical components.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 KJV


The Witness of Holy Scripture Concerning Pride…

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Psalm 10:4

“Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” Psalm 138:6

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5

“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” James 4:6b

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:21-23