The pursuit of humility is serious, but that doesn't mean you can't have some fun too

Jesus said in Matthew 23:

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

That makes the pursuit of humility an incredibly serious matter. But that doesn't mean a person can't have any fun while pursuing humility.

A few weeks ago I had a good lesson in this while playing a game of Hoopla with some friends from church. There's something humbling about trying to "act out" Mount Saint Helen's without using any words. It's hard to do that well while being consumed with a lust for looking good in front of others.

I don't like games where I have to "act things out". Hoopla would have been my last option of what to play on this particular "game night." After reflecting on that emotion, I realized that I feel that way because I don't like looking foolish in front of other people. Or to put it another way, I'm a proud man (and I don't mean that in a good way).

If a person can't laugh at himself from time to time, he's probably not very humble. And because I desperately want to be humble, I'm glad there are games like Hoopla. Even something fun and trivial can be an instrument in the deadly serious business of destroying pride.