The god of Significance
I’m not sure about you but I don’t think it ever occurred to me to strive to be insignificant. I was never encouraged to shoot for mediocrity. I was never taught that God might just want me to be a nameless Christ-follower modeled by so many unnamed men and women in the Bible who did what God commanded and loved God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Gideon was an important dude who was asked to do a seemingly impossible thing in whittling down his army to a few hundred in order to attack the vast Midianite army. It never occurred to me until recently, but what happened to the men who were sent away? The nameless ones who missed out on making a great memory for Israel. Were they completely disappointed, depressed, or even angry that they were left out?
Our American worldview contains a couple of subthemes (see Charles Kraft’s book Worldview for Christian Witness) that seem to be in direct opposition to one another. We firmly believe that all people should have an equal opportunity to achieve yet we also believe that a truly successful individual strives to be the best, to accumulate the most wealth, prestige, and power. So, we presume that while all should have the opportunity to achieve it is necessary for some to fail in order for us to achieve. We compete and no matter what the Win-Win situation is someone really loses and someone really wins.
Even when someone strives to go against the American consumeristic culture by promoting a simplistic life we go and try to make them into folk heroes because what they are sacrificing for needs to be significant in order to be worthy of the attempt.
But when Paul reflects on what Jesus had to do just to come down here and be with us it becomes clear that Jesus left significance behind. Paul says, “ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” (Phil 2:6-9)
How awe inspiring is that? That Jesus was God and became a slave and because of His obedience God the Father made Him the most significant figure in all of history. Jesus didn’t seek significance, but was made significant because of His willingness to fail. It was no greater failure then for a pure, holy, righteous, glorious God to be consumed by the sin of the entire history and future of people.
As I continue to struggle through this revelation and what it means for me in ministry, as a father, and as a husband let me also invite you to purge yourself of the desire for significance by acknowledging that only through our willingness to lose every game, to die penniless, to lead a church of 20, to never be read or heard or seen or revered…only then might the Father raise up our heads and speak the highest complement, “Well done, my son. Well done, my daughter.”
The Parable of the Zebra
Shaun Groves is touring Compassion Projects in Kenya. His latest blog is worth a five minute read…http://shaungroves.com/2010/03/the-parable-of-the-zebra/
To be a rung
Watched the movie The Express over the weekend. I highly recommend it. It’s about the 1959 Syracuse University College Football National Champions and more specifically the first ever African American winner of the Heisman Trophy, Ernie Davis aka The Express.
Mr. Davis, following in the footsteps of maybe the best running back to ever play football, Jim Brown, at Syracuse and was also drafted by the Cleveland Browns to share the backfield with Jim Brown yet he was never to play a single down for this NFL franchise. Ernie Davis was diagnosed with Leukemia and died at the age of 23.
Many would look at Mr. Davis’ life only to be saddened by the unrealized potential, and the seemingly unfairness of contracting a deadly disease at such a young age. Yet, what I was struck by as I watched the extras was that this kid left a tremendous impact on the lives left in his wake. Even Jim Brown, known for his cockiness, held a reverence for the friendship he had with this young man. Floyd Little, appearing with other Hall of Fame nominees (watch the video at the end of the link as Mr. Little is introduced – a tremendous man) at the Super Bowl coin toss, still becomes emotional when he recounts the words that he exchanged with Ernie when Ernie recruited him as his replacement at Syracuse.
Last week I posted a post by Mark Batterson asking if this could be the day that Jesus returns. Today I’m asking what if it is the last day you are around? Who is left in your wake? Who is testifying in ten years about your goodness? Who becomes a Hall of Famer by standing on your back?
Here’s the question for me, “Am I willing to be a rung in the ladder to let others climb higher?” I think Ernie’s greatest testimony is that he was, and because of that I think he was great.