It was a nice week to vacation, to be with family and friends in my home state.  Minnesota is a land of big green lawns, medium blue skies and small tidy houses.  Its state bird really could be the mosquito, their state governor really is a big, bald entertainer, and the state patrol is happy to give you a souvenir greeting card on Highway 71 south of Redwood Falls.

          And I became re-acquainted with golf, something I need to pursue a little more here.  Thanks to a driver the size of a watermelon that's more forgiving than most Lutheran pastors, I think I may just go back to the game.  It's good exercise, but most of all, it keeps me humble.  It reminds me of an old song by Mac Davis:

"O Lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way.
I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day.
To know me is to love me;  I must be a wonderful man!
O Lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doing the best that I can."

          Speaking of golf and humility, it must be hard to Tiger Woods.  Only 23 and he's already considered the greatest golfer of all times.  He makes more money than a rock star and is more recognized than Billy Graham.  Nine out of ten times Tiger can drive a golf ball 350 yards as straight as an arrow within ten feet of a where he wants it.  Watching him makes any golfer humble.  Yet, in that rare golf tourney I watch, I find myself looking for the bad shots, the bloopers, the duffs, rather than the great shots.  You know, the ones I make every time I go out.  All the pros make me look like a beginner, but I really only connect with them when they hook one into the trees, or shank one into a sand trap.  And I really feel a connection when they slice one into the water.

          The British Open in 1999 gave me a bit of a thrill.  The Frenchman, Jean Van de Velde, was six strokes and 480 yards away from his first major championship and a wad of cash.  All he needed to do was score a six on a par four.  I can do that - sometimes - if you give me a mulligan!  Most guys I golf with can do that too.  Even a bogey would win him the tourney, so it was going to be a piece of cake.  Now this eighteenth hole was tricky and required a short tee shot so you didn't get into trouble.  But some guys always think they can beat the odds.  That day Van de Velde pulled out his Driver and with a mighty swing not only missed the fairway, he caromed it off the bleachers into deep marsh grass.  His next shot could have been into the fairway, but no, it plopped into water, and the next one went into a sand trap.  It was no longer fun but painful just to watch him.  He was lying five strokes and not even on the green yet.  You could see he was praying for a seven just to tie the match and win a play-off hole.  Well, he got his seven, but he lost the play-off and the tourney and a big wad of cash.

          How we deal with our stupid mistakes reveals a lot about a person.  What Van De Velde did on that eighteenth hole reminds me a lot of myself.  All he needed was a Five Iron lay-up on his first shot and he'd have won it easily.  But he had to go and pull out his Driver.  Or in my case, all I needed to do was apologize, but I had to argue.  Or all I needed to do was listen, but I had to open my big mouth.  All I needed to do was be patient, but I had to rush things.  Or all I needed to do was give that problem to God, but I had to fix it myself.

          When a fork in the road comes along, why do we so often insist on taking the wrong one?  Maybe we want to show off too much.  Or maybe it's too much stubbornness or it's over-confidence or too much independence.  Maybe it all comes down, not to having too much, but having too little.  And in this case, it's too little humility.  I don't need to take your advice - Whack!  I can handle all this myself - Bloop!  No problem with this - Clang!  I don't need to follow God - Slice!  Who needs you to tell me what to do - Splash!

          Can you relate to this?  Have you ever sung, "I did It My Way" and thought people actually enjoyed your singing?  Am I the only one dragging around an iron chest of pride, that stone-heavy bag of self-reliance?  Am I the only one carrying a trunk full of intransigence?  God wants us to travel light with humility, but we travel heavy with pride.

          We humans want to do things our way.  Forget the loving way.  Forget the better way.  Forget God's way.  We want things OUR way.  It's my way or the highway.  Love has nothing to do with it.  Right and wrong - that's what matters.  And that, precisely, is our problem.  That's why St. Peter tells us in today's text, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble'."

          Peter should know what he's talking about.  For much of his discipleship, he did it his way.  He opened his mouth when he should have kept it closed.  He bragged when he should have listened.  He led with his chin when he should have backed off.  Humility didn't come to Peter until a few days in the grave - the Lord's grave.  It was only when Jesus rose again and asked him, "Peter, do you REALLY love me?" (John 21:16) that Peter finally saw the light.  And the light showed him the face of unconditional forgiveness and love, not rules of right and wrong.

          Humility is such an elusive virtue.  Once you think you have it, you don't, or you wouldn't think you did.  Ever hear about the boy who received the "Most Humble" badge in his scout troop, and then had it taken away just because he wore it?  A few weeks back something like that happened to me.  I'd gone to another church for a meeting and noticed people looking at me as I came in.  As I walked through the door a man turned and stared.  A woman did a sort of double take as I sat down.  "What an honor," I thought.  "They know I'm the Circuit Counselor and I've come to run this important meeting.  It's about time I'm noticed for who I am!"  Just about that time a young woman came up and said, "Pastor Bob, it's so good to see you!"  And then she reached down and pulled off the big piece of plastic tape I'd been dragging around on my shoe, a really ugly thing.  So much for feeling important!  Man, do I hate it when a pretty young thing takes pity on me!

          God says, "I hate pride and arrogance." (Proverbs 8:13)   He says, "Don't let arrogance come out of your mouth." (1 Samuel 2:3)   He warns, "As humility goes before honor, so pride goes before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)   Ever wonder why some churches are so big and powerful in one generation and so empty in the next?  Maybe the answer is found in Proverbs 15:25, where Solomon says, "The Lord will tear down the house of the proud."

          God hates arrogance.  He hates it because we don't have anything to be arrogant about.  Does the art critic give an award to the canvas?  Is a Pulitzer Prize given to the ink?  Does the scalpel do the surgery?  Of course not - they're only tools, so they get no credit for the accomplishment.  You and I have nothing to boast about either.  We're God's tools and all we have are gifts.  We have salvation - a gift.  We have heaven - another gift.  We have faith - another gift!  We do a few good works - because the Spirit helps us!  Taking credit for what we haven't done is foolish!

          The recent flap about prohibiting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools is nothing new - it's just an old idea in a new package.  Children on some playgrounds today no longer play Dodgeball because someone has decided it promotes violence.  They can't play Tag because there's a winner and a loser, and someone has decided children must be protected from feeling like losers.  Pointing a finger and saying "Bang, you're dead" can get a child suspended.  In one school students can't use jump ropes any more because if they do, they may miss the rope and someone might laugh at them.  So they jump without ropes!  Hellloooo - is anybody home in that school?  Denying reality is alive and well, so we're graduating youth who believe the world owes them a painless living.  Maybe, like the Israelis, we all need two years in the military.  There's nothing like boot camp to bring a person back to reality.

          Our Lord wants us all to travel light through life, and to do it with humility.  He once told a story about a Pharisee and a Publican.  The Pharisee had a lot to be proud of.  He'd memorized the first five books of the Old Testament and gave a tenth to God each week.  He'd saved his money and he fasted and prayed.  And most of all he regularly practiced humility and was proud of it!  He had every right to pray on the street corners and get praised.  But God could hardly stand to see him.

          But the Publican was another story.  He was no model citizen.  He'd cheated people, he'd overcharged their taxes.  He'd spent his money on loose living.  People had every right to hold him in contempt.  But God didn't.  He saw a humble heart.  He knew a repentant person when He saw one.  The Publican went away forgiven, struggling to change his ways.  The Pharisee went away unforgiven and very set in his ways.

          God loves humility;  "He gives grace to the humble."  When we realize we're prideful and need change, God will help us.  Jesus forgives our sins of pride.  He died at the hands of arrogant people, yet He forgave their sins too.  Pilate and the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas and the Scribes weren't bad people - they just weren't as good as they thought they were.  God requires perfection, and only He can apply the perfection of Christ to us by faith.

          Self-reliance may be good in some things, but it's a disaster in our faith.  Christian pride led to the Inquisition.  God wants humility, humble men and women, humble youth and children who travel light because they've shed the baggage of pride and picked up the yoke of Christ.  Jesus shows us the life of the meek and lowly.  Only He gives cause for joy.  We can only boast of a loving God who forgives weak people.  God grant us grace to travel light with humility.  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.