What Pride Will Get You…

Friday night, Nicole and I had a cookout at Burke Lake Park with our friends Seita and Emma, plus all our kids. It was the perfect setup: a pristine spring evening, deserted picnic pavilion, nearby playground for the kids. We’d been looking forward to this for a few days; Seita and I set the time and place and left it up to the ladies to work out the menu.

As the ladies unpacked the food and set up the table, we realized that we had a problem: Nicole and Emma had misunderstood each other about the meat. We had hamburger patties, but no way to cook them. An honest mistake that any of us could make.  So Seita and I jump in the car, headed to Giant.  As we leave the park, we share a chuckle about the sight of raw hamburger meat surrounded by all the fixin’s. I utter the following arrogant verdict: “That’s why the men need to be included in the picnic planning.”

Ever read James 4:6? How about 1 Peter 5:5?  Then this will sound familiar: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” As my son often tells me in the midst of a hotly contested game of Chutes and Ladders, “Trouble is coming.”

We get to Giant and buy charcoal, and matches on the hustle. Being the experienced griller that I am, I know we need ready-light charcoal, or this could be a long night. Seita and I both inspect the bag and both conclude that we don’t need lighter fluid.  Two of us.  We both read it.  We both agreed this was the thing.

You can see where this is going. We get back to the picnic area and find that kids and wives are getting hungry in the nearly 30 minutes we’ve been gone. We start dropping matches on our neat pile of charcoal, but nothing happens. Dread sets in. A closer look at the bag, and we both realize—simultaneously—that we needed lighter fluid after all. [I take full blame for this. Seita was a victim of my arrogance, I think.]

A quick trip to the park store (another 15 minutes) and we are back with the lighter fluid and good to go. We enjoyed our meal in an otherwise uneventful manner, but I learned some lessons. Now, I can’t really say that our oversight at Giant was God’s direct judgment for my sinfully arrogant comment about our (supposed) masculine superiority. But as I reflected on this episode, another verse came to mind:

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:29-30.

I knew I blew it on the first part. There was no way my comment was good for building up Seita. I don’t think it gave him grace in any meaningful sense. And I’m sure it grieved the Holy Spirit because it was uttered arrogantly.

But I’m encouraged as I finish reading verse 30: it is by the Holy Spirit that I was sealed for the day of redemption. Thus there is no sin I can commit (small or large) that will keep me from ultimately enjoying the salvation that Christ purchased for me.

I share this story with you because I know that we often sin with our words, and so that we can learn together to choose and use our words with great care.

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