Lessons from Little League

Many years ago I was asked by my neighbor to be a coach on a Little League baseball team.  The kids on the team were 6 to 8 years old. Most of the kids were not great at hitting and catching.  Some of them had the attention span of a goldfish.  I really enjoyed working with the kids.

This age group of Little League had special rules to help tone down the competition and give everyone an equal chance.  It was supposed to be about learning the game and having fun.  Each inning every player was allowed to bat.  We didn’t keep score on the field, but everyone knew the score, especially the parents.  But of course, no one was keeping score; well not officially.

That little league experience taught me how powerful comparison and competition can be.  Even when I didn’t want to compare and keep score I couldn’t help it.  And neither could anyone else.  We all knew.

The real problem wasn’t with our comparison; it was what we did with that information.  We put ourselves and our kids in a pecking order. Parents would feel better or worse about themselves based on what their kid did in the game.  If a boy hit a home run, his parents would stand up and cheer.  That’s my boy!  But if he didn’t notice a fly ball coming his way because he was chasing a butterfly his parents would cringe.

Little League taught me that we have a very strong urge to compare. We decide that people are winners or losers based on some of the flimsiest of reasons.  This tendency is bad enough in Little League Baseball, but it is tragic when it comes to our spiritual life and our relationship with Jesus.

When we make spiritual comparisons we are just plain silly.  When we compare ourselves to others, we can never know the full story.  All we see is the outside.  We can’t see the heart. Often our conclusions about people are absolutely wrong.  1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that, “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart".

Our spiritual comparisons are biased.  We have a way of comparing things in a way that makes us look good.  When we think we look good, it’s hard not to look down on people who don’t measure up.  It’s when we are comparing ourselves to others that pride becomes particularly dangerous.

Most of us fail to realize how dangerous pride is.  We know that we shouldn't look down on others, but we tend to see it as a small sin.  We think it falls somewhere between failing to floss and driving too fast. It’s something we need to work on but it’s not that big a deal.  Even when we admit to having a problem with our pride, we are really thinking that it is hard to be humble when I’m so much better than most people.

God doesn’t want us to have pride in our hearts.  It separates us from Him.  But did you know that God says that he HATES pride.  Proverbs 6 tells us, "these six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, ...  Right at the top of this list of things that God hates is a proud look.  That look of disgust and disdain.  That feeling of arrogance when we view others.  God hates it. There are a lot of things that anger God, but most people wouldn’t guess that looking down our noses at others would be at the top of the list.  But it is.

Spiritual arrogance isn’t a small insignificant sin.  It is front and center in the battle for our heart.  It is a trap that Satan lays for those who are serious about their discipleship and their Bible study.  I’ve noticed that there is something interesting about this sin of pride that God hates.  It is usually found among the people who think that they love God the most.

Most of us Christians spend a lot of time and energy being proud of our accomplishments and looking down on others.  We need to be reminded that we are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. (Isaiah 64:6)

Why are we proud?  We have nothing to be proud about.  In 1 Timothy the Bible refers to people having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Pride in our works denies the power of God.

Jesus addresses this issue in the story we find in Luke 18:9-14. “ He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

According to Jesus it doesn't matter how moral or zealous we are.  Our arrogance in trusting our own righteousness and looking down on others leaves us in a lost, unjustified position.

I have noticed that spiritual arrogance is the ultimate blind spot.  We never see ourselves as arrogant.  We can easily spot it in others, but not in ourselves.  We might admit to an occasional struggle with pride, but we will never admit to full blown arrogance.  We never think that we are inappropriately looking down of others.  We just think that we are seeing things as they really are.  We can’t help it if it is the truth, that we are further along our Christian journey than some of our brothers.

We must turn those thought and feelings over to God and pray, "God, be merciful to me a sinner"!  God hates it when we look down on others.  He says that it leaves us in an unjustified position.  To put it plainly he says that if we thank God that we are not like other men we will be lost.

How do we keep from falling into the trap of spiritual arrogance?  The first step is to realize that we actually have no good works to be proud of.  Secondly we need to regularly ask ourselves if there is any group of people for whom I am developing a response of disgust, disdain or aversion.  If the answer is yes, it is a sign that we are walking the road of spiritual arrogance.

I don’t know what tempts you to feel superior.  I don’t know what kind of people you are tempted to look down on.  But most of us have a list.  I don’t think that we realize how dangerous that list is.  Unless we can get rid of the list it will nullify every good thing that we do and leave us separated from God.  It can put us at the top of God’s I hate it when you do that list.

In John 3:16-17 Jesus tells us that, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved".  If God doesn’t look down on the world but loved the world – every single person in it – so much that he sent His Son to save the world, who am I to make a list of people I think that I am better than.

Spiritual arrogance isn’t a small insignificant sin.  It is front and center in the battle for our heart.  Let’s pray today with David his words found in Psalms 51:10, "create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me".  It is the only way we can overcome our spiritual arrogance.

Lists

When I was growing up I loved to make lists.  I kept a list of the books that I had read from the Longmont Public Library.  I kept a list of baseball players and their statistics.  Each week I would make my own Top 40 list.

Do you make lists?  What kind of lists do you make?  Today your lists may be on your computer or your phone, but I bet you make lists. Lists keep us organized.

I recently read a story written by Christian author Max Lucado.  On a plane he was seated next to an attractive young woman.  The young woman was very nervous about flying, so he took out his Bible and read some reassuring passages.  As they talked she told him that she was a believer once when she was young.  Max asked her, “Do you believe in heaven?  "Yeah."  "Do you think you’ll go there?"


She looked away for a minute and then turned and answered confidently, "Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be in heaven." How do you know?"

"How do I know I’m going to heaven?" She grew quiet as she formulated her response. "Well, I’m basically good. I smoke less than a pack a day. I exercise. I’m dependable at work and," she counted each achievement on a finger, "I made my boyfriend get tested for AIDS."

That was her list. By her way of thinking, heaven could be earned by smoking less and safe sex. Her line of logic was simple: I keep the list on earth and I get the place in heaven.

Most of us are a lot like the woman on the plane.  We feel that we are basically good.  We are decent hard working people.  We have a list that we feel qualifies us for heaven.  Your list may not include cigarettes or AIDS, but I know you have a list.  There is a purpose for the list: to prove we are good.

In Romans 3:20-22 Paul tells us, “No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.  But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago.  We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.

Well, so much for lists. So much for being "basically good."  If no one is good, if no list is sufficient, if no achievements are adequate, how can a person be saved?  Wouldn’t you like to ask Jesus, “How can I be saved”?  Jesus was asked that very question.

We find the story in Mark 10:17.  “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

Isn’t that the question you would like to ask Jesus?   It is very interesting that Jesus gave the man a list.  In verse 19 Jesus answers, “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”


It seems that Jesus is saying that to have a list is OK.  It seems like we should have a list.  When the man told Jesus that he had done all of these things, Jesus said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”  The story has a sad ending.  The man was OK with keeping his list, but he was not willing to follow Jesus.

No matter how long or complete your list, there is always one more thing you need to do.

I recently read a story of a woman who for years was married to a harsh husband. Each day he would leave her a list of chores to complete before he returned at the end of the day. Clean the yard. Stack the firewood. Wash the windows.  Sweep the floor.  Bake the bread.


If she didn’t complete the tasks, she would be greeted with his explosive anger. But even if she did complete the list, he was never satisfied; he would always find inadequacies in her work.

After several years, the husband passed away. Sometime later she remarried, this time to a man who lavished her with tenderness and adoration.

One day, while going through a box of old papers, the wife discovered one of her first husband’s lists. And as she read the list, a realization caused a tear of joy to splash on the paper.  "I’m still doing all these things, and my husband doesn’t have to tell me. I do it because I love him."

You can’t make a list long enough and complete enough to satisfy the requirements for eternal life, but Jesus hasn’t asked you to.  All he wants is you; All of you.  He wants you to be madly in love with him. Head over heels, do anything for him, in love with him.





In John 14:15 he tells us, “If you love Me, keep My commandments”. Not because that will guarantee us salvation, but because we are so much in love that we want to please Jesus. If we truly love Jesus, doing the things that will please him will not be a burden. They will be a joy.

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