June 3 (Wednesday) -- Pride leads to the dark side

You never know what might get thrown over a wall: 2 Samuel 20:14-21:22

Jesus’ followers after Jesus went back to Heaven: Acts 1:1-26

The Lord watches over you: Psalm 121:1-8

Pride --> destruction: Proverbs 16:18

In the Star Wars movies Yoda said, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” When us Star Wars fans first heard that we thought, “that old green sage is giving words of wisdom”.

Well, a long time ago, in a galaxy very, very near, King Solomon compiled a book of wise sayings that we call the "Book of Proverbs". Today’s proverb may be the most important proverb to remember.

Pride goes before destruction
a haughty spirit before a fall.

If you think you’re “all that and then some”, get a hold of yourself. You’re setting yourself up for a down fall.

If you’re the first person in your family to get a college degree and instead of being grateful you find yourself thinking you’re better than your siblings, get a hold of yourself. You’re setting yourself up for a down fall. (Trust me. I’ve done it.)

I used to have epilepsy. There was a time I had one to three seizures per day. It was a very humiliating experience, and was slowly getting worse. Plus, the docs said there was no cure & that each seizure ate up brain cells that would never be replaced.

I was also praying for the Holy Spirit to shape me and use me however He saw fit. I prayed this a couple of times a day for weeks. This was in my late twenties.

One day I had a seizure & I realized that almost all of my seizures occurred right after I had feelings of pride. My pride was based on temporary things, like my intellect or my strength and endurance. (Believe it or not, I used to be in good shape when I worked at the Bruno’s warehouse. :) ) Plus, I was getting near finishing college, earning a degree in a field that a lot of folks thought was pretty tough stuff. I had reason to be prideful, or so I thought.

And the Holy Spirit did something.
He made me thankful for the epilepsy. I’m not saying that God is the author of diseases and such. But at the very least, He held back His healing hand to teach me an eternal lesson about pride and humility. I realized that clarity over spiritual matters such as pride was much more valuable than health or longevity on Earth. Without a doubt it was the Holy Spirit who caused me to be grateful over a situation that I could have easily been angry or disappointed about.

I asked God to shape me to be humble enough not to need my pride kept in check. I came to the realization that I’m not “all that and then some”. The next day, my neurologist signed me up for yet another MRI scan. Ho hum. What a waste of time those things were. I had so many MRI scans before and none of them ever found the cause of the seizures.

But this time the MRI scan found a microscopic piece of scar tissue on my brain. It’s what was causing the seizures! I had hope for a cure after over a decade of hearing that I had to put up with epilepsy all my life and that the seizures would continue to slowly eat up my brain. A round of tests & a surgery later & I was cured!

Ask the Holy Spirit to shape you & use you in any way He sees fit (like Brother Al preached last Sunday). Do it with the attitude that there might be things that need to be changed. Pride is destructive. Don’t let pride keep the Holy Spirit from doing things in you.