Yesterday I was invited out to a golf game with 2 guys that are well beyond me, as far as golf goes. In fact both of these guys really are beyond me in almost every way the world would value.
They are older, more set in their career, hold higher levels of authority, more financially healthy, and on the list could go. And the Lord knows their golf game is well superior to mine.
I should have been intimidated to play with these guys, and believe me I was. I put my bag of 50+ year old golf clubs next to theirs as we arrived. Clearly my set was dwarfed in comparison. I mean, I still am using actual wooden 'woods'.
Needless to say the first tee box became my most feared place.
All this to say, to my surprise and great delight, we had an awesome afternoon. Yes the clobbered me on the course, but after that first shot, it was very clear status was not important anymore. Even level of skill wasn't really a factor. We were committed to walking this 18 hole course for the next 4 hours together. It was a great time of connection that was unique on that day. When would the 3 of us get this kind of time in any other setting?
So Q of the day...
Why do we fear each other so much? What is it in our search for belonging and community we rate ourselves against each other in a sort of checklist, that is unnecessary.
Last time I checked we are all of equal value. All son's and daughter's of God...period. Nothing more or less.
Today I find great comfort in that. I hope you do.
(Oh and by the way, I got par on 2 holes...but let's not talk about the rest of the double and triple bogeys.)
3 comments:
Society would too often have us compare ourselves to others, and measure our success against the success of others. We need to know how we compare to those around us to determine if we are on "the right track" with our lives.
It takes a lot to decide that the opinions of others don't matter, and that we are free to live only in the love of God.
A personal antedote for you, I spent my whole life being told I was smart, and then trying to prove it. I needed to be the best, and it was because society expected me to be the best. It went from wanting to prove myself, to thinking I could control my circumstances by being the best.
We fear the possibility that we don't compare, and that we don't measure up to the standards others set. We fear that people will see our weaknesses and expose them. We strive too much for perfection.
Instead of seeing that we are all equally broken, and equally lost in this world, all desperately in need of the love of the Lord.
I agree that we are nothing less than children of God. certainly though there is nothing great than being a child of God other than being God himself. We hold such a high position and I believe that the reason we so often place ourselves on any scale is directly related to our lack of belief in that we've been saved and redeemed. Shame and guilt live so dominantly in our lives and we too often idolize guilt in christondome. We say that "guilt is from God" but I think that guilt is a result of our sin and is as wrong as the sin itself when it causes us to see ourselves as anything less then the children of God. Being children of God comes not only with the privileges of belonging to the King but it also comes with responsibility to the "office" in which we hold. When we do not see our worth, we fail to perform our duties as ambassadors to this world.
This is one of those posts that still remains true even a month later... well, over a month, but who's counting ;)
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