How often have we seen someone blowing his or her own horn-or trying to-only to have it blow up in their face?
It happens on a regular basis in the world of sports. There's the player who brags before the game about a sure victory because his or her performance alone will make it happen, and then they have one of the WORST games of their career. Or the player who is showboating in the middle of a play, high stepping it towards the end zone only to drop the ball short of the goal line or have it knocked from his hands and recovered by the opposing team. End result-NO touchdown-Complete embarrassment.
Former University of Texas Head Coach Darrell Royal once said, "Act like you've been there before."
I thoroughly enjoy watching football but I greatly respect the skill it takes to play baseball. I realize how difficult it is to play at the Major League level-especially deciding in a quarter of a second whether a pitch is a fastball or a slider, then swinging at it. I can appreciate someone who just hit a homerun running the bases cheering himself and pumping his fists. But you show more respect toward the pitcher if you do as Coach Royal so wisely said and act with humility.
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus describes an incident of showboating in the story of the praying Pharisee and tax collector. Both men were in the Temple, God's Holy Place. The people were all around them both. The Pharisee, a religious leader, thanked God that he wasn't a sinner like the others standing around him. The tax collector, on the other hand, lamanted his sins with regret to God. To the surprise of his listeners, Jesus says it is the tax collector who is justified before God, not the Pharisee. Then he finishes by saying, "Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (v.14)
Have you caught yourself with a "look at me" attitude? I know I have more times that once here lately. It happens to us all, the key is will we admit it or will we be to prideful to admit it?
It happens on a regular basis in the world of sports. There's the player who brags before the game about a sure victory because his or her performance alone will make it happen, and then they have one of the WORST games of their career. Or the player who is showboating in the middle of a play, high stepping it towards the end zone only to drop the ball short of the goal line or have it knocked from his hands and recovered by the opposing team. End result-NO touchdown-Complete embarrassment.
Former University of Texas Head Coach Darrell Royal once said, "Act like you've been there before."
I thoroughly enjoy watching football but I greatly respect the skill it takes to play baseball. I realize how difficult it is to play at the Major League level-especially deciding in a quarter of a second whether a pitch is a fastball or a slider, then swinging at it. I can appreciate someone who just hit a homerun running the bases cheering himself and pumping his fists. But you show more respect toward the pitcher if you do as Coach Royal so wisely said and act with humility.
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus describes an incident of showboating in the story of the praying Pharisee and tax collector. Both men were in the Temple, God's Holy Place. The people were all around them both. The Pharisee, a religious leader, thanked God that he wasn't a sinner like the others standing around him. The tax collector, on the other hand, lamanted his sins with regret to God. To the surprise of his listeners, Jesus says it is the tax collector who is justified before God, not the Pharisee. Then he finishes by saying, "Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (v.14)
Have you caught yourself with a "look at me" attitude? I know I have more times that once here lately. It happens to us all, the key is will we admit it or will we be to prideful to admit it?
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