THE DAILY TEST

PRIDE is such a problem for me.

I have things that I want.

I think about my family all the time.

It is a never ending battle to keep my mind right.

When a coaching friend does well and wins a title I am genuinely happy for them. I’m happy their hard work paid off, but deep down in my soul, I’m a little envious. I worked really hard with our kids the last six years I coached but we won no titles. We taught teamwork, toughness, personal responsibility and character. I’m proud of the work I did with the young men I coached but we did not win as many games as somebody felt we should have. So I got fired. After thirty-four years of coachin’ em up at three high schools and at my alma mater I was let go as the basketball coach. Oh, they still wanted me to teach and coach golf but they “wanted to go in another direction.”

I was devastated. It was hard to go to work. I was confused at first, then I was angry. Finally, I was just wounded. After all coaching is not just what do, it is who I am. Why did it sting so much? My pride.

Pride can kill your service to others -because it becomes all about you and your recognition.

Pride can  kill your rejoicing with those who are celebrating – because you are envious that they succeeded.

Pride can make you a snob – because you think you are better than somebody else.

Richer. Smarter. Better looking. More successful.

Pride can also leave you depressed – because you perceive yourself as falling short while comparing yourself to someone else.

We mess up when we compare ourselves to other people. We mess up when we are just dying to get recognized.So what’s the answer? Am I the only one who walks into a room and tries to figure out how I measure up? Who’s the smartest? The richest? The most famous? Am I ahead or behind? Am I catching up or falling further behind?

We are taught from a very young age the importance of being first. In Little League you got a bigger Trophy if you finished in first place. If you told your Uncle Roy or your neighbor that you made the basketball team, what did they ask you? Are you on the first string? Are you a starter, or just a bench warmer? If you played the trumpet, are you first chair? When you are on the playground did you get picked first? Did you make the ALL STAR team? Did you fly first class?

Jesus looked at things differently. He said that we have to take a test daily. We get a choice. We get to choose between exalting ourselves and humbling ourselves. Since God hates pride, if we choose to exalt ourselves the result will be that we will be humbled by Him. On the other hand, if we choose to humble ourselves He will exalt us.

The Christian life is not a competition. Tom Holiday says it so well in his book, The Relationship Principles of Jesus:

God is much more concerned with who you’re helping in the race than who you are ahead of. He’s not asking, ‘Will you get to the finish line before anyone else?’ He is asking, ‘ Who are you going to help cross the finish line with you?

So every day we get to vote. We can only choose one.

WILL I CHOOSE TO:

EXALT MYSELF

or

HUMBLE MYSELF

Either way, I’m getting humbled, that’s the way life works. When we get too full of ourselves we will be humbled. But note that we get the choice to humble ourselves. When you humble yourself, God often chooses to exalt you.

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE EVERY DAY.

-Coach T

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