Kicked Off the Plane

Actor Alec Baldwin was sitting on an American Airlines plane, waiting for it to leave the gate.  To pass the time he was playing a popular Scrabble-like game on his phone called “Words With Friends.”  Soon the flight attendant came and asked Baldwin to shut of his phone, just like every attendant does on every flight.  Apparently Baldwin felt he was above that rule and refused to do so.  The situation escaladed to the point to where Baldwin was kicked off the plane because he wouldn’t stop playing the game.

I didn’t know much about Baldwin before this, but I was appalled by his arrogance and selfishness.  Not only was he being unbelievably conceited, but every single person on the plane now had to wait for an extended period of time while they removed Baldwin from the plane.  And all of this was because of what?  A silly, unimportant game.  Obviously the words of Proverbs 13:10 are true in this situation, “Pride only breeds quarrels.”

While most of us don’t struggle with pride on this level, almost everyone does on some level.  We have arguments and refuse to be wrong (even when we are).  We are in a competition and let our pride get in the way.  We refuse to accept help from others.  There are many ways pride can show itself in us.  No matter the form, let’s keep Scripture in mind on this.

• Romans 12:3 – “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
• 1 Peter 5:5 – “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

I don’t see many of us getting kicked off of flights because of our arrogance, but there are definitely times when pride shows it’s ugly face in us.  Remember Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction.”  May we always choose to humble ourselves before God steps in and does it for us.