Tempted to Believe

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