God's Answer to Survival of the Fittest

At age 13, I distinctly remember one conscious thought which gripped me through high school and beyond.  It was this.  "I want to be the best."  I wanted to be the best dressed, the best basketball player, the best looking, the best student, the best classmate, and the best son.  I failed at most of those, but not all. For the most part, I wasn't the best at all.

At age 19, when Jesus became more real to me than He'd ever been, I wanted to be the best Christian, too.  In fact, I so much wanted to be the best that I wanted God to look down on me and say, "You're the best Christian I've ever seen, except for maybe Paul."  And I wanted others to at least think it.  It seemed to work for several years but eventually, it all came crashing down around me. 

At age 31, this drive to be the best drove me into the ground.  I kept failing and the more I failed, the less I thought of myself.  I ended up deeply depressed, discouraged and miserable. Underneath my pursuit to be the best was really the drive to be important, that is valuable.  The desire to feel valuable is actually a God-given need. 

My problem?  I had been born with the survival of the fittest mentality.  Survival of the fittest is the thinking that only the best are truly valuable in this life.  It's not just about biology but it's about theology.  This thinking is a lie.  Jesus said, The last will be first, and the first will be last.  (Matthew 20:16) 

This dysfunctional thinking is in all of us.  That is why people relegate themselves to one of three categories.  They believe they are in the successful crowd, the failure crowd or the ordinary crowd.  

This survival of the fittest didn't start with Darwin.  It started in the Garden when our great, great, great, grandparents ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  "But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:17)  When they did, their mind was immediately filled with "anti-grace" thinking.  "If I perform well, I am a successful person.  If I don't, I am a miserable failure."  It was a real tree which dispensed real knowledge which has poisoned the human mind of every person ever born. 

God's answer to the survival of the fittest is the survival of the weakest.  We have no strength at all to fill our need to feel valuable.  Only Jesus has been able to do this for us.  In His weakness, dying on the cross, He succeeded in making us what we have always wanted to be - important regardless of our performance.  See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!  But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know Him. (1 John 3:1 NLT)

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Surprising Self-worth!

A few years ago, a New York family spent a leisurely Saturday perusing yard sales.  A small 5 inch white bowl caught their eye, but they were only willing to give $3 for it.  It sat on a shelf in their home for six years and was probably used to hold candy.  Eventually, the owners became curious about its value and took it to have it appraised.  To their surprise, they were in possession of a 1000 year old rare "Ding" bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty of China.  Sotheby's presented it for auction on behalf of the family where it sold for a whopping $2.2 million dollars!  This makes me want to go to a yard sale right now!

As you ponder that story, which value do you place on yourself?  Do you constantly think of yourself as a $3 common bowl, a $2.2 million dollar treasure or somewhere in-between?  I suppose, for all of us, it depends on who is doing the appraising.  Most often, we consider the opinions of others, along with our own performance and appearance to be what determines our value.  If we perform well and others think well of us, we give ourselves high value.  If the opposite is true, we give ourselves minimal value.  At the end of the day, the value of anything or anybody is determined by what someone is willing to give to purchase it.  Right? 

Why don't we stop for a moment and let God appraise you?  As He looks you over, He thinks, then He looks some more and finally He writes down His estimation of you.  His answer?  He is willing to give His only Son, Jesus Christ, so He can purchase you!  YOU, are as valuable to Him as His Son!  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:32.

It's not that we are worthy of salvation through our works.  We are not.  However, God has assigned worth and value to us as demonstrated by the gift of His Son.   The question then is this:  Do you place the same value on yourself as God does?  If so, pray something  like this to your Father. 

Father, because You gave the most valuable possession You had when you gave Your Son to die for me, You have made clear that I have great worth in Your eyes.  Thank You!  As a result, because You say I have great worth, I agree with You and say back to You that I have great worth, no matter how I feel today or how I have performed this week. Amen.

Believe it!  It's the Gospel!

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding

Dealing with Feeling the Fear of Failure

   At age 19, I began to run in the "Fear of Failure" marathon. Like any serious runner, it motivated me to strive to always do more. I compared my success to others keeping a record of who was better and who was worse than I. Self-criticism fueled my relationship with God, with people and my work. This marathon eventually produced so much anxiety that it depleted my body of serotonin. Like a runner who "hits the wall" and can't finish the race, I hit the wall of depression.

   Fear of failure is a common malady. The lie behind this is: "I will have value if I succeed but I will be less valuable if I fail". Value is a God-given need. Yet, most of us find ourselves trying to meet this need our way instead of God's way, which usually ends in conflict and frustration.

   Our way is to train our minds to equate our value with our performance. We think that good performance equals greater value and vice-versa. God's way is to equate our value with what He was willing to give to bring us into His family. He gave the most precious possession He had when He gave His Son to die in our place. Romans 8:32 says, "Seeing that He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not through Him freely give us all things."

   Let me put it this way. It is God's performance which gives us value, not our performance.

   This is actually cool because it liberates us from the weight of performance based value so we can live from value based performance. And we do this best when we are depending on Jesus Christ to perform through us by asking Him to live His life through us daily, and believing He is."

   I recently ran in my first 5K trail race. I thought it was just a fun run until a few days before. I run trails for fitness and wellbeing with no desire to compete. When I found out it was an actual timed race, I said to my wife, "Oh no! I didn't want to run in a race." Then I told her I was just going to have fun. When the race started, I had no ambitions of winning nor was I afraid of losing. I simply wanted to finish the race without stopping! As I approached the finish line, I couldn't catch a 10 year old boy but I finished. I was so surprised when they later announced that I came in 3rd place for my age group. I almost fell to the ground laughing! Because my value is in Christ and not in my performance whether running or otherwise, I can joyfully exclaim, "I'm number 3! I'm number 3! I'm number 3!"

   Rest in your value in Christ today and go perform with Christ living through you. You'll be a much better employee, employer, parent, spouse and friend who can actually influence your world for God's Kingdom.

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding