You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18
Have you ever been proud of something you've accomplished only to find that you had done the wrong thing to begin with?
When I was in third grade a rivalry of sorts broke out between me and a girl about who would make the best grade in the class. It was neck and neck for a good part of the year and all the kids were getting in on the rivalry. When the grades were given back to us for a particular test all the boys would cheer and taunt and rub it in if I did better. If the girl did better, all the mean ol' girls would do is smile. But they smiled meaningfully!
One day the teacher announced that she would give a test that would be worth 200 points. I was ready. I went and sharpened four #2 pencils! I had my big red eraser and just in case, I had my handy dandy staple puller in case I needed to take the staple out of the test in order to be more neat.
As soon as I got the test I went furiously to work. There were fifty questions so each one counted four points apiece. I skimmed all the questions first to see if there were any I needed to skip. I placed a star by those and started answering the ones I knew the answers to.
When I was about a ten questions in, I saw my rival get up from the desk, walk up to the teacher's desk and place her test in the finished basket.
"What is going on!" I wondered. "Maybe she's just giving up," I thought.
Oh was I ever so smug!
As I was finishing up the test, I knew I had aced it. The rival was just sitting patiently at her desk reading a book. I finished the last question, put everything back in order and confidently walked to the teacher's desk. I was the first one finished. (Well unless you count my rival, but there's no possible way she could have finished.)
As soon as I sat back down at my desk the teacher picked up our two papers, glanced over them and said for the class to stop writing.
"What?" I wondered. "Was this a race as well. O happy day!"
Then, to my horror the teacher announced that everyone who had answered a question had failed the test. She then asked my rival to come up to the front of the class. When she got there, she handed my test to her and asked her to read the directions.
"Directions: READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS," she began. She then started to read a very long paragraph of directions. Who reads directions? I mean really? They were always the same things. Answer all the questions. Fill in the circle completely. That kind of stuff. As she was reading the directions I noticed a bunch of my classmates started to groan. A few slammed their pencils down on the desk in disgust. But I had no clue what was going on because my rival had my test.
Then she got to the last sentence. She paused for dramatic effect and read, "Do not answer any of the questions. Write your name on top and turn in the test."
What! What kind of test doesn't want you to answer the questions?
Sometimes we think life is just a great big test. We have to answer all the questions and know all the answers. But sometimes, just reading the directions to life that God has given us in the Bible is all we need to do.
Let us pray.
O God, heal these wounds. Lord Jesus, bind us up with your love. Holy Spirit breath into us new life. And now, as we say your name, please accept the praise we offer unto you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.
Religion on 07/30/2014