Mona Tessmer is a member of FRCS’s Board.
I love sports! If you ask any of my friends, they’d probably tell you I’ve juggled meeting times depending upon what important sporting event was happening. This proclivity for sports began young. My dad was a high school mathematics teacher and a coach, and while I didn’t inherit any math genes from my father, sports was a big part of growing up.
Being from a small school in Iowa, I played a lot of sports as a youngster, and now, as my creaky body has entered its 6th decade, spectator sports also bring me a great deal of joy. I’ve probably watched way too many hours of sporting events this year, mostly with my sports-minded husband, who equally loves football, basketball, and golf.
What is it about sports that appeals to so many? Is it love for the sport itself, the excitement of competition, or the camaraderie and community it creates? Maybe it is a combination of factors. One thing I do know is that appeal lends itself easily to pride. Accolades and glory come with the territory, and pride follows closely behind.
Several weeks ago, I watched the world’s #1 ranked golfer win the Masters. After winning, one of the questions he was asked was how he felt on the morning of his final round. He said, “I’ve been given a gift of this talent, and I use it for God’s glory. I really want to win, I feel like that’s the way I was designed, but at the end of the day, win or lose, my identity is secured in Christ.”
I am not often moved by the humility of professional athletes like I was that Sunday afternoon. Individual talent trumps everything in most sports today. And while I love using sports as an example, pride can consume us in ANY area of our lives if we seek to make much of ourselves and less of the Lord.
Some forms of pride are appropriate. We are allowed to feel that kind of pride that’s felt in doing a good job. Paul writes in Galatians 6:4, “But let each one of us test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.” We should be doing God’s work, not to be affirmed by others, but in fulfilling His purpose for us. We are also allowed the kind of pride we feel about the accomplishments of a loved one. Paul, speaking to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 7:4, says, “I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you. I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.”
But then there are the perils of pride. A.W. Tozer wrote in the Pursuit of God:
“The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace? The heart’s fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of the earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them. Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest and meekness is his method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.”
God hates pride so much that Scripture is filled with warnings about it. For example, in Proverbs 8:13: “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
The Bible shares many stories of pride, including Satan thinking himself as equal to God. Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden tree; builders of the tower of Babel seeking fame by building to the heavens; King Saul deciding not to follow a specific instruction of the Lord; Jonah refusing to take God’s word where He commanded; and the many prideful, evil kings of Israel and Judah are just a sample of Old Testament stories revealing dire consequences when individual desires conflict with God’s will. And the theme continues throughout the New Testament.
The same is true for us today. I can be proud in my day-to-day life, and I usually find it’s thematic with Tozer’s “if another is preferred before them.” I want to be the Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) teacher that everyone likes, the Board member that everyone likes, etc., and my efforts sometimes point me toward the places I receive accolades. For example, I fall naturally into the gift of hospitality. God wired me that way. But when I think I’m the only one who can pull off a staff party or senior breakfast…wait…maybe that’s a bad example; after all I do work with six dudes! Nah, any one of them could do it, but do I think I’m the best and want that glory for myself, rather than pointing to God? Often…yes.
Another area of pride is perceived strength in our relationship with God. Last week, a Bible study leader asked us to consider Peter’s pride in being certain he would not deny Christ. In Matthew 26:35, Peter declared, “even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” Peter (and the other disciples) felt self-sufficient in their own strength, believing they would be able to stand with Christ under difficult circumstances.
I understand Peter. I am self-assured that I would never disown the Lord. Yet I remember a time when I sat amongst a mixed crowd in a downtown coffee shop studying, while sort of concealing my Bible. Even thinking about a wayward glance or a disapproving word made me do that. And I have to admit that I am not above disowning my Lord.
It’s easy to see how we all fall to pride every day. The amazing thing is that God rescues and uses us again. In Luke 22:31, Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you all as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” In John 20:17, Jesus reinstated Simon Peter, instructing him to, “Feed my sheep.”
What a gracious Father I serve. Thank you, Lord, that you redeem me and reinstate me to be used for Your glory! I pray that I am more aware of the dangers of pride in my life, just as it happened through Your prompting me in writing this post.
And all of this after being inspired by a golf story … God works in interesting ways!
