I played on a variety of different baseball teams growing up ranging from terrible to very good. When the team was great, I spent a lot of time on the bench. When the team was bad, I played all of the time.
I desperately wanted to be a good baseball player. In high school, I found myself on a team that wasn’t very good and the competition that we faced wasn’t very good either. As a result, I had great success in the form of batting average, stolen bases, RBI’s, etc.
Though I didn’t give it much thought, I faced a dilemma. Wrapped within the dilemma was a temptation. I had a couple of choices:
- I could admit that the success I was having was due to playing for a bad team against bad competition. – OR –
- I could glorify myself and believe that I was a great player who thrived against good competition.
What a temptation! I’d like to think that today I would not succumb so easily as I did back then. It was no competition – I chose glory.
Sometimes I still do the same thing in a way that I don’t even realize. My temptation is to believe that I am “good.” I look at the world around me, which is really bad, and I have a couple choices:
- I can admit that I only look good compared to the competition, but recognize that I am still bad myself. – OR –
- I can glorify myself and believe that am better than other people.
Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15
15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
And again, in Romans 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
And again, in Galatians 6:14,
14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
It is a powerful temptation to believe that I am good. How do I escape such a temptation? Simple. I compare myself to Jesus. When I compare myself to Him, I see, as the songwriter put it, “a wretch!”
Let us see all humanity as God sees us – a great sea of sinners, helpless, in need of a savior. Let us who know Him boast in the might and power of our God who can save even the worst of sinners – me.
Much love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
