Vainglory

Professional basketball holds as much attraction for me as a five course, five star meal does for an anorexic, yet even I am aware LeBron James became a free agent at the end of this basketball season.  The endless promotion and hype surrounding the auction decision process is described this morning by a local newspaper columnist as "vainglorious".

It's rather strange to see vainglory referenced outside of the pages of the King James Bible (this King James, not that "King" James), but it is singularly appropriate.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines vainglory as "boastful, unwarranted pride in one's accomplishments or qualities".  As Mr. Hunt states in the linked article, while Mr. James is an impressive player, he has yet to accomplish much for his teams.

Our instincts for self-promotion and self-glorification date back to Adam and Eve, who ate the apple in part because they thought it would make them "like God".  But in fact, the original over-reaching belongs to Satan.  In a passage in Isaiah 14 generally thought to reflect the devil's expulsion heaven, we see that he:

...said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."

Isaiah 14:13 - 14

Emphasis mine.  That attitude has been passed down through the ages, to the point where we congratulate ourselves for little more than drawing breath.  The irony is that every breath we draw is solely because of the mercy and compassion of the One who holds our very atoms in place.

When you place your faith in the saving power of Jesus' death, however, a change occurs.  That old nature is stripped away, replaced with a new.  The problem is that vestiges of the old remain in leftover attitudes and behaviors that need to be weeded out.  The apostle Paul had some great advice for knocking out any tendency toward vainglory. First, he lets us know what our attitude should be:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3 -4

Then he goes on to remind us of the greatest example of all of humility:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5 - 8

It's not easy, but it's well worth cultivating humility.