Overcomers of - Pride

Thank goodness! Seven days cleaning out this cupboard has taken long enough. What a lot of junk was stored on each shelf. I bend down to the bottom shelf and there's a sparkling wrapper with the single word, "I" written on it. It's almost magic. Anything this wrapper, (is it made out of something modern like plastic, or something old like linen?) touches, it makes the object take on dazzling colors. 

I walk around the house and place the wrapper over my graduation diploma. A thousand memories come back, all of them proving I was the best in my class, even though in my heart I know I wasn't the best. But pride feels good. It covers over the time I cheated on a test or told a lie about being so busy that I couldn't finish an assignment on time. 

Oh, it's such a beautiful thing. I put the wrapper over my shoulders and then look in the mirror. Who's the most intelligent? the best looking? the wisest? Pride, the wrapper I've kept hidden all these years, tells me "I am." In my heart, I know I'm not, but look how pride changes my perception of EVERYTHING! I wear it over my nightclothes and the next day, I'm even proud of my pride!

Walking back to the living room, I stumble and fall. Beside me is an open Bible and I read, "I wisdom, dwell together with prudence. I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior, and perverse speech." Proverbs 8:12,13

I wonder why I fell, why I lost my balance so easily, and read, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18

I flip the pages once more and come across the longest fall any mortal ever experienced. King Nebuchadnezzar wrote after losing his mind, and living like an animal eating grass for seven years, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of Heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble." Daniel 4:37

I take comfort in the following verses, to which I have referred each day this week. (One day on each of the Seven Deadly Sins.) 

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." I Corinthians 10:13; Romans 8:8-10 

 "Thank you, Loving Father, for such clear guidance in your Word. I don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. I want you to control my tendency to prideful thoughts. I thank you that in you, there is fullness of joy. In you, I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly places, and that is enough for me."