A Short Trip to Arrogance

             Through a driving rain in the late spring of 1977, I walked, then ran, a number of blocks from the train station in center city Philadelphia. I was a disgusted and soaked 28-year-old dressed in my best suit from J.C. Penny’s. I was headed to a committee meeting to which I had been appointed by the Trustees of a college. We were to conduct a search for the college's next president . The meeting was held in the prestigious Union League – a private club for the movers and shakers of the Philadelphia area. I got to the grand entrance of the Union League with hair dripping (yes I had hair then!), and any self-confidence I might have had washed away in the storm. Entering the Union League I was feeling very much out of place surrounded by accents of marble and dark walnut wood, quiet classical music, and the scents of fresh cut flowers mixed with the smell of brass and wood polishes. I was greeted by a man in a black formal suit with long tails, who, I felt, looked at me with raised eyebrows as he asked my name. I gave my name and he checked a list. He indicated that my meeting was in such and such a dining room, but perhaps I might wish to freshen up. This I surmised was a polite way of saying to me, “You look a mess, try and clean up a bit before you go any further into the Union League.”

                He directed me to a doorway and I walked into another room and was greeted by another man in a formal suit and long tails who asked to take my drenched coat. “I’ll attend to this sir,” he said, “the facilities are this way.” He handed me a white fluffy towel as I entered a room with more marble, walnut wood, and banks of mirrors. I dried my hair, sopped up the shirt, and tried to dry my paints. As I left the room the man finished blow drying my coat and asked if I would like some fragrances. I turned around and looked at a table filled with deodorants, colognes, and aftershaves – reminding me of a men's cosmetic counter in an upscale department store. After a few quirts of fragrances, I headed down the long hallway lighted by numerous chandeliers.

                The room was filled with a very long walnut table surrounded by crimson upholstered armed chairs filled with white haired men talking and laughing with one another. I was one of the last to enter the meeting room. The remaining seat at the table was beside the candidate being interviewed – an internationally recognized author, educator, and speaker. Sheepishly I sat down hoping my damp pants would not leave a mark on the upholstered chair. A pair of arms appeared around me and a white linen napkin was being placed in my lap by a man in a black suit and long tails. From the other side a man of similar dress opened a menu before me and asked me my beverage selection. “Water is fine,” I replied, as I tried to inconspicuously hide behind the rather large leather menu. Lovely menu, but no prices! A knot in my stomach suddenly developed. I recall thinking, “What’s the cheapest thing on this menu?”

                As the evening went on I began to enjoy the attention of those who were serving me at the table. Subtly I began to think how great I was. Here I was dining at the Union League. I had been chosen to be among the group of esteemed men to select the next president of the college that I had just graduated from six years earlier. I was sitting beside and talking with an internationally respected and well known speaker and author. Additionally I was being waited on literally hand and foot. 

                I really began to bask in being served like this. "Sir," I said to our server with an air of importance, "May I have some more water before our meeting begins?" I comfortably settled back in my upholstered chair and waited for the meeting to begin. It did not take long for a soggy out of place young man to begin to think more highly of himself than he ought to, did it? The trip to arrogance is a short one indeed.

Turning Over a New Leaf

Each year millions of people in the USA make New Year’s resolutions. In fact they are so popular that U.S. government's official web portal, USA.gov, has decided to get involved – surprise, surprise. They are giving advice on ten resolutions that are supposedly popular every year. They posted, “Here’s information that can help you achieve your goals in 2015.” The ten goals they selected were: lose weight; volunteer to help others; quit smoking; get a better education; get a better job; save money; get fit; eat healthy food; manage stress; manage debt; take a trip; reduce, reuse, and recycle; and drink less alcohol. It is rather hard for me to take advice from an agency that struggles and fails on a regular basis to achieve their stated goals and campaign promises. Perhaps it is easier to give advice to others rather than maintain discipline in areas that are our own personal responsibility.

     According to the University of Scranton and the Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45% of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions, 17% do so infrequently, and 38% absolutely never make them. Perhaps the fact that only 8% of those who make resolutions actually succeed in achieving them puts a wet blanket on the idea of a New Year’s resolution. However, there is an upside to making a resolution. According to the same study, “People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.” That doesn’t make sense to me. If I do not make a resolution in the first place, how would I even know whether or not I did or did not achieve a goal!   

     I have turned over so many “new leaves” at this time of the year that I could probably “foliate” a good size forest. The problem as I see it is that instead of turning over new leaves on the same old tree or plant, I would have a better chance of making significant and lasting change if I were a new species altogether! I guess you could say new leaves on a poison ivy vine are still going to produce the plant’s oil to which many are allergic and cause an itchy rash. To use a totally different analogy, putting a pretty ribbon on a pig still leaves one with a pig and does not produce a pretty little girl!

     Yet, we expend lots of effort and invest large sums of money hoping that somehow we can act differently without becoming a different individual. The Bible addresses this with a question in Jeremiah 13:23, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The gist of the prophet’s words is in essence unless our nature is changed it is unlikely we will be changed. Change that is lasting comes from the inside out not the outside in.

     Does this mean we are hopelessly doomed to a life of failure being bound by the nature with which we have been born? No. In fact another prophet, Ezekiel, talks about how real and lasting change can come about through God’s intervention. Speaking to a nation on a path to destruction because of their rebellion against God’s laws, he issues a statement of hope indicating that God can change them. He reveals that this involves a process whereby the very nature of the nation’s sinful rebellion is changed by God working in its heart – from the inside out. Ezekiel put it this way, “I (God) will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). In order for people to make lasting change they need more than resolutions. They need a life transformation where they can now see and live life differently. This is the way God works – from the inside out.

     A New Testament writer, Paul, was a person whom God had transformed. He testified before King Agrippa in Acts 26:1-23 of the change of nature that occurred in him. Earlier in a letter he wrote to a church explaining that this process involved more than a resolution; it involved a transformation. He wrote, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus also spoke of the need for transformation to a religious leader, Nicodemus, saying he needed a new nature and thus had to be “born again,” or “born from above” (John 3:3,6,7). Too often we conclude that outward adjustments will generate permanent change. At best it is like a “coat of paint” being applied to a wooden board; it lasts for a while but will need touched up in the future. What is needed is a different kind of siding that eliminates the need for paint and future touch ups.

     Perhaps you have decided to turn over a new leaf in the coming year. I do not want to discourage you from that resolution. In fact, the scale in my bathroom indicates that a change needs to be made by me before I can no longer look down and see the scale! I simply want to encourage you to consider a change that will be more than an external, temporary adjustment to life. Consider a change that will have even larger benefits and eternal consequences. Those are changes that God can make in you if you allow Him to work in your life. Remember, we need transformation more than resolutions.