Solo Leveling Our...Humility?

Leveling up your pride only leads to destruction

Happy Friday, anime fans!

By His mercy and grace, we’ve made it through another week down!. I spent much of my downtime this week watching Solo Leveling, and wow—I was blown away by it! Besides the fights and great animation, the series got me thinking about humility in a big way.

If you haven’t seen it, Solo Leveling takes place in an alternate version of Earth where "gates" open, connecting our world to another full of monsters. Hunters go into these dungeons to take out the monsters and earn loot. Each hunter has a rank based on their power(E being the weakest, S being the strongest).

The main character, Jinwoo, is an E-rank and widely called the world’s weakest hunter. Even so, he keeps grinding and risking his life on low-level missions just to help pay for his mom’s medical bills. Sad, huh?

Then one day, everything changes. He ends up in a special dungeon where his entire party is nearly wiped out. Here, Jinwoo is given a strange opportunity; a "quest system," just like in video games, is installed within him and allows him to become the only person who can level up. Everyone else stays the same rank for life, but not Jinwoo.

As he levels up and gains power, you see his confidence grow, but gradually, he starts losing humility. He becomes more aggressive and more prideful. It’s subtle at first, but you more visibly detect it as Jinwoo grows stronger and stronger.

That subtle creeping in of pride is something that can happen to us. We may ask God for a breakthrough, strength, and open doors, but what happens when we actually receive those? Do we stay grounded? Or do we start to think we don’t need God as much anymore? What happens when you get that promotion at work, for instance? Do you stay grounded in the same humility you once had, or do you become more and more like the prideful managers whose attitudes you may have always disdained?

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 (ESV)

Even more visibly than Jinwoo’s pride is that of the other hunters who technically hold higher ranks than him. In one arc, Jinwoo gets betrayed by such hunters in a dungeon. They leave him behind, thinking that as an E-rank, he’s of little value and can’t possibly survive. But in the end, only Jinwoo and another weak hunter survive. “A haughty spirit” went “before a fall.”

While few of us live in precarious situations like the hunters, it’s common to grow in pride in the workplace, in our hobbies, or even in church. Like the hunters around Jinwoo, we might find ourselves doing something similar—flexing our money, power, and position, and using them to push others down. Maybe you think you wouldn’t do so, but only God knows our hearts. He knows them even better than we do.

I don’t know if Jinwoo will similarly face a fall, but I would offer him the same advice I offer you. Focus on God instead of yourself. Keep your head down. Serve others and Jesus served us, and also like Him, be humble.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

~ Philippians 2:3 (ESV)

This is the right way to live, even when we are given the chance to drink from the cup of pridefulness. It’s hard to live humbly and push away pride, but the twist is this: Despite what we think, there’s nothing we can do outside of Chris,t regardless.

Weekly Mission: Find areas in your life where pride has taken hold, and do the opposite! Walk in humility instead.

Memory Verse: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:10 (ESV)

BtT in Review

Claire wrote a touching piece on episode 3 of Once Upon A Witch’s Death. Meg chats with Inori, the Witch of Wisdom, who opens her eyes to a more positive outlook on her life than the gloomy one she’s been having.

The new Anime Artisan drawing is all about Senku and a lovely romantic interest!

Luke gives his distinctly otaku take on the 100 Men vs. 1 Gorilla meme…

Makes sure to follow us on Instagram and YouTube for Luke’s fun videos + more!

Laura and TWWK shared their thoughts on plenty of titles in this week’s Reader’s Corner. Some that piqued my interest were: Before the Tutorial Starts, Villains Are Destined to Die, and Giant Killing. Take a look to see which ones you want to check out!

For Fanart Friday, we bid farewell to Gawr Gura and salute Saber.

Have a great weekend, friends, and God bless!