Hello,
I heard on the radio that this week a number of people will be inducted into the National Football League’s Hall of Fame. Although I am certain that their induction would not be taking place if each of them was not an extremely great player in his day, but when their names were read, I did not recall any of them. Maybe avid football fans would be able to recite the accomplishments of these Football stars, but as someone who simply enjoys watching football games, I cannot.
It intrigues me that we live in a world where superior stardom is argued and noted. Way back in my youth baseball days, the team would select a MVP (most valuable player). It seems that no football game, at any level, can conclude without the same selection being made, and for the MVP of the Super Bowl, the one named MVP gets a brand new car/truck (of course, the winner is in great need of another car/truck…). With every new Olympics, handing out more gold medals, setting new world records the announcers carry on the debate of who has been the greatest of all time…..Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz? And if you travel to a small town in Upper Minnesota, you can visit the National Hockey League’s Hall of Fame as you check off the hundreds of such places for nearly everything under the sun. We are a culture that likes to discern that some people are the cream of the crop, and some people are Most Valuable.
Why do we do that?
I suppose that there is something appropriate to noting excellence. It encourages people to hone their talents and do their best. That is a good thing. But there is a flip side to this good thing that is not so good, and that is the judgments that fall upon those who do not find themselves in MVP or Hall of Fame discussions. In its mild form such people are seen as valuable, but certainly replaceable. In its brutal form, some people are seen as having no value at all, but are simple leeches and burdens. Wouldn’t we find it strange if people decided to give out an award for the LVP, the Least Valuable Player? Or if shrines were constructed to house those who had made the biggest mess of their lives, Halls of Losers? (It seems to me that as strange as these things sound, in truth, many a discussion provides a great list of names for LVP and Loser nominations.)
I don’t know why humans tend to be driven to elevate some and crush others, but I do know this: God does not engage in this. I know this because God did something that supersedes and judgment of worth or value that the world might give. God sent his Son to die and rise, not for some people, but for all people. To God, each person is a MVP, a Most Valuable Person. What greater value could one claim than to be someone whom God sent his Son to die for and claim as his eternal child. Think about that….not a coach….not a teacher….not a general….not a world leader….but God Almighty … God Almighty sent his Son for each person. Each person has a display booth in God’s book of life, God’s Hall of Fame, not noting the good or bad that each person has done, but noting the depth of love that God has for each person that led God to do what God did….sent his Son.
Some people might say that to think this way makes it too easy and encourages laziness, spiritual and general laziness. But not me. For me, to know that I am already an MVP (along with everyone else) gives me the freedom to live out of my worth, rather than try and make myself worthy. It allows me to get up when I stumble and fall and say, “let’s give it another try.”, instead of berating myself for my clumsiness and two left feet. It gives me the eyes to see those who lay beaten on the roadside of life and stop and help them, instead of ignoring them on my own journey to greatness. It gives me hands to clasp onto others’ hands walking together into dark and scary places, rather than hands that clasp the sides of a ladder that I think I need to climb.
This week, no matter who you are and no matter what you have done…no matter how terrible or good the world or you think you are, know this: God sent his Son for you. God has named you MVP. In a world that wants to rate the relative degree of yours and my worth, I want you to know that God does not do that. So valuable are you to God, that in the words of Songwriter Michael Card, God could not live without you. WOW! You….You….are God Almighty….God Almighty’s MVP!
Have a great week,
God’s Grace and Peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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