I know, for some of you, the title of today's blog is offensive. You LOVE roller coasters. And that's just fine with me. I, on the other hand, can't even handle the log ride at Wonderland Park. Going up to the top of an ascending slope is not bad, though I know what's about to happen. Once at the top, it's SWOOSH! Down into the pit, my stomach somewhere at the top of the ride trying to catch up. For some, this makes you feel alive; for me, death!!
What's this got to do with pride, the content for this week? Pride is like that roller coaster: it takes you to the top, but always brings you down. When I'm feeling pretty confident and self assured, pride tries to drop in, like an unwelcome guest at a family get together. You wish it wouldn't come, but it slips in anyway, and you start feeling pretty good about yourself. Nothing wrong with feeling good, unless that feeling emanates from one's own prideful self and doesn't originate AND return to God.
God gives us all talents and tells us to go for it. What we decide to do with those is up to us. We can bury them and hope for the best or return them to The Master with interest.
The ancient Babylonians thought pretty highly of themselves. In fact, they decided to build a tower, the goal of which was to reach to a level equal with God. How foolish! How prideful! They were on that roller coaster riding to the top, but we know what happened next: the destruction of the tower!
Proverbs 16:18 reveals a truth for us, no matter if we lived 700 years before Christ, now, or sometime in the future. Pride does go before destruction.
Lord, help me stay on an even plane--not too high and not too low, and if I show pride, may it be only in you, for you give me everything I have and nothing is mine alone. I'm a borrower, a custodian of this life, a simple sojourner passing through to my final home with you.
Amen.
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