It’s about time I learned to “never say never.”
I used to be a sports snob. My definition of a “real sport” was pretty narrow and didn’t include what I considered “wimpy” sports like golf. I taught tennis at courts surrounded by a golf course and I scoffed when caravans of beer-guzzling geezers rumbled by in their carts. Didn’t look like a real sport to me.
“I’ll NEVER play golf unless I’m really old and it’s all I can do,” I thought.
And swimming? Watching competitive swimmers chug up and down a pool, I thought, “Why would anyone do that when they could be playing something fun? That’s not a sport—it’s torture. I’ll NEVER swim laps unless it’s the last form of exercise left on earth to me.”
I was thinking about all of this the other day…as I was swimming laps in the YMCA pool…having just played golf the day before. I swim to help my achin’ back and have discovered that I actually do enjoy golf (as much as anyone can enjoy something that makes you want to beat the ground and cuss).
This brings me to the following conclusions: 1. I am officially old; and 2. I should “never say never.”
The truth is, we’re fickle, short-sighted humans, and as actress Gloria Swanson said, “Never is a long, undependable time.” Pride is often the source of our pompous “never” declarations, and I’ve found that pride is a very shaky platform from which to make bold promises and proclamations.
Seems like the more “nevers” I declare, the more humble pie I end up eating. Humble pie doesn’t taste very good—though I’ve eaten so much over the years one would think I surely would have developed a taste for it by now.
There was a time when I NEVER would have considered writing a “religious” column. Unh-uh. No way.
But, here I am.
And I could NEVER have imagined myself actually enjoying church, hanging around with devoted Christians, or honestly wanting to know and follow Jesus.
But, here I am. (And loving it.)
I’m learning to “never say never” about the things God wants for me and from me. His way is always better. Always.
I think the Apostle Paul would agree. He knew about saying “never.” After all, Paul the passionate Christian was formerly Saul the zealous Pharisee, who lived to persecute Christians until he had a supernatural, humbling encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road.
Follow Jesus? I’m sure Saul the Pharisee would have clenched his fist and shouted, “NEVER!”
And how about the sins we piously say we’d NEVER commit because we think we are just so doggone good?
Hmmm, before any boastful guarantees trip off our sanctimonious tongues, maybe we better consider a couple more Bible heroes and the humble pie they had to swallow…
The Apostle Peter, for example, temporarily flipped on Jesus just hours after brashly declaring he would never deny his Lord (Matthew 26).
King David wrote plenty about his pure heart and righteous ways. I’m sure he never thought he was capable of the sin-a-thon he commenced after spying on the beautiful, bathing Bathsheba.
None of us is above committing any sin if our willpower is based solely upon wobbly human pride.
As Paul wrote, “.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)
That’s why I “never say never” anymore. Too often I’ve done what I said I’d never do, good and bad. Instead, I pray for grace and strength to love and obey God today, and then get up and pray the same thing tomorrow. One day at a time, trusting His keeping power, not my own.
His promises are infinitely more solid than mine.