I think it was around 15 years ago when Monster.com came up with a hilarious commercial… it included numerous kids completing the statement: When I grow up _______________...
My world revolves around being a coach… a motivator… an equipper; all these things work around the question of what one hopes the future looks like. Maybe it is a short-term goal of what the next game looks like… or the longer view of what a season will look like… and even longer view of what a career might look like.
The commercial was so funny because it centered around kids “setting the bar” in such a way that they are content with mediocrity. Some of the answers in the script were… “I want to file all day” … “I want to climb my way all the way up to middle management” … “to be a yes-man” …
The last few weeks on these Game Plans for Life, I have talked about “raising the bar” and being “obsessed” like a “gym rat.” Since that time there have been numerous more reminders that we tend to “set the bar” way too low as believers. On the positive side, have heard some solid messages from our previous church home, LifePoint Church, during their current series called “Suit Up.” In it there has been an emphasis on a higher pursuit… and in the bumper video there is a quote from a Nick Saban speech… I looked up the speech and Saban said the following:
“Mediocre people don’t like high achievers and high achievers don’t like mediocre people.” Saban is discussing building a championship culture… he went on to state that during spring football he is simply trying to make sure they get “the right guys on the bus… and the wrong guys off the bus.” He talked of a culture where everyone “buys in… to the same principles… value the organization to the same high standards…”
I stated there were a few things that keep this thing going… I have also dealt with Christian folks recently that have talked negative about a Christian that expressed high standards / convictions. The complaint was that the Christian with high standards was unreasonable, that it was “too much.” In fact, there is typically more of a backlash to high standards than low ones in church and Christian school circles.
I remember one young lady that came to a Christian school I worked at when she was in 10th grade. She was fired up about serving the Lord… she valued the Head of the organization… This young lady would eventually become a missionary and has served the Lord faithfully, and to a high standard, throughout her life. Yet she left our Christian school after one year because she said she got more backlash/persecution at the Christian school than at the public school she had gone to. WHAT A SHAME!
When we received ETERNAL LIFE, we received not only quantity of time but also quality of time… the Greek word for LIFE carries the idea of “absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical,… A life ACTIVE and VIGOROUS, DEVOTED to GOD, BLESSED…”
When John 3:16 promises ETERNAL LIFE to those that believe… it promises not only a pardon from sin and life everlasting, BUT ALSO a life that can “BUY IN” to a whole new beautiful culture.
And this includes many passages urging us to pursue excellence… to avoid mediocrity… to despise the idea of just being average… to be high achievers…
“THEREFORE, (because of our Heavenly inheritance), GIRD UP the loins of your mind, be sober,… not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, BUT as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
I would say there is a higher standard in the organization that we should all be striving for… (and make sure you have the right people on the bus in your inner circles)!
When I grow up I want to be a spiritual giant!
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