Humble Pie

I got a large dose of humble pie early this morning. I got up early to go to the Fitness Center where I was to meet another man from our church to play racquetball. I felt pretty decent about my chances to hold my own. I took a class on racquetball in college. That was thirteen years ago. I played pretty often about six or seven years ago. I was thirty six then not forty three. I knew I would be a little rusty but I did not realize I was about to be force fed some humility like I had not experienced in a long time.

As we started our match I quickly came to the realization that my cardio training on the Stairmaster or the Elliptical had not prepared me for all the running, stopping, twisting, contorting, and lunging to hit the ball. We had not been playing long when through deep breaths I thought to myself, “You are in big trouble. You just started and you are already winded. You had better pace yourself.”

My opponent knew just where to hit the ball to make me run more which only served to leave me gasping for more air. I had no time to recuperate as the next bullet like serve came bouncing off the wall leaving me more times than I care to admit swinging with all my might and connecting with nothing but air. One time I actually swung and missed the ball twice on one bounce.

It was humiliating. The longer we played the more I began to sweat and long for air in my lungs from having to lug this oversized body around the court. My opponent seemed to be floating on air. His shots were precise, his serves like laser beams while mine seldom even were legal. H never appeared to tire and told me casually afterward that he runs three miles a day on the days he does play racquetball. That would have been nice to know on the front end. I might not have agreed to playing him.

I do not know how long we played. At one point I commented the score had to be about 90-4. I am a competitive person and normally do not enjoy losing. On this occasion I was too tired, too uncoordinated, and too unskilled to even make the game competitive. Finally in boredom my opponent called it a day without having even broken a sweat.

Peter challenges us in His book [II Peter 5:5-6] “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time.”

What does it mean to clothe ourselves in humility? The word “humility” means to have a humble opinion of oneself, a deep sense of one’s own littleness, and to have lowliness of mind. We are tempted not to wear such an attitude all the time. People compliment us and we like the strokes to our ego. We begin to tout our successes even if other people do not and keep a list of personal statistics and track records of accomplishments. We like to be a made a big deal of. We often let our focus drift from making a big deal out of Jesus to living to make a big deal out of us.

John the Baptist got it right when he said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” [Jn 3:30] He saw his own littleness and the greatness of Christ in contrast. He was lowly in mind and his own estimation of himself.

I am thankful for a good old fashioned dose of humility to help me remember I am not a big deal but God is a big deal. I have limitations, weaknesses. I get tired and am unskilled. Far too many Christians have inflated opinions of themselves and are being set up for a big fall. We all need regular doses of humble pie.

I talked with one of my greatest friends today. He tragically told me of another pastor who fell morally to an affair with a lady in his church. He was the quintessential pastor with the highest academic accolades, a proven track record of past successes, and a large vision for his church.

While his wife was recovering from a life threatening illness, this high minded, large ego preacher slipped. Somewhere he took off humility and began believing his own press clippings. He slipped off the garment of humility and replaced it with pride. While pretending to be the captain of the ship he was really acting out the part of a teenage boy with out of control hormones. We learn from the Proverb that, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” [Prov 16:18]

I want to learn humility and to wear it gracefully in places like the racquetball court and not in the public arena of morale failure. This is a warning to all of us. Take heed lest we fall too. We have no room to boast. All we have to boast in is Jesus Christ and His cross. [Gal 6:14] Let us slip into the work clothes of humility and clutch them close to our chest grateful for the reminder that we are too must combat pride and embrace humility. Let us be reminded this day that if we are prideful and filled with ourselves we will find God in opposition against us and we will fall.

Lord, thank you for humble pie today. May I never grow weary of its taste.