Revenge Of The Sith: Twice the pride, double the fall.

Obi-Wan and Anakin fight through the battle over Coruscant to land aboard General Grievous' command ship in their attempt to rescue Chancellor Palpatine. After a quick scan of the ship, R2 shows them he is being held on the observation platform at the top of the ship's spire.

Eventually, they make their way up to the observation platform. Obi-Wan and Anakin find the Chancellor bound to a chair. Before they can free him and escape, Count Dooku and two super battle droids arrive.

The two drop their Jedi cloaks and quickly attack him. After their opening attack, there is a pause in their duel.

Anakin's Pride

Count Dooku looks at both of them and states, "I've been looking forward to this."

Anakin matter-of-factly informs him, "My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count."

Dooku cooly replies, "Good. Twice the pride, double the fall."

Proverbs 16:18 informs us that "pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

Anakin's pride does come before his destruction.

We see his pride and arrogance building upon his desire to be the most powerful Jedi ever, which he revealed to Padmé in AOTC. His desire to save Padmé at all costs pushes Anakin away from the teachings of the Jedi and towards the dark side.

Merriam-Webster's website defines haughty as "blatantly and disdainfully proud: having or showing an attitude of superiority and contempt for people or things perceived to be inferior."

Pride and being haughty describe Anakin during his rant against the Jedi and Obi-Wan.

How do we avoid pride and arrogance?

We need to look no further than what Paul wrote in Philippians 2:5-8 where he wrote, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

While this is impossible to do on our own, we have a God who promised in 2 Corinthians 12:9b that His "grace is sufficient for you, for my [God's] power is made perfect in weakness."

What areas in our lives do we take pride in? Where do we feel superior?

How can we balance excelling in areas where God has gifted us and yet not become prideful?

Twice the pride, double the fall.