Scorecards

We love sports. We love the competition, the comradery, the suspense and the memorable moments. For example, if you’re a Braves fan, the line “Braves win! Braves win! Braves Win!” will always be synonymous with the 1999 World Series. If you’re from Chicago, the voice of Harry Caray will always take you back to memorable moments for the famous Cubbies.

We tend to be competitive in nature. We like to win. We like “our team” to win. We like to talk about the wins! We talk about them because they are exciting, and because they are important to us - no matter what team we pull for.

This truth - that we talk about what is important to us - is true way beyond sports. We talk about our kids. Why? Because they are important to us. We talk about what we do. Why? Because it is important to us.

So, when was the last time you talked about your faith, or what God is doing in your life? Has it been a while? What does that say about you from the context of our earlier statement that “we talk about what is important to us”?

It’s funny. Sporting event outcomes are totally reliant on how one team measures up against another. It’s all about the score. How often are we keeping “score” in our spiritual lives without even realizing or acknowledging it? We measure what we’ve done - or not done - compared to other people. We think “well, at least I didn’t do THAT”, or “I’m not nearly as bad as he is”.

It’s a scorecard of sorts. We talk about the good things we’ve done in order to make other people think we’re a good person. We want some figurative '“points”. We bring up people we’ve helped, or times we’ve mentioned God, and often it is for no other purpose but to gain points or praise from someone else. We want others to think highly of us, so we sway the score.

But, what are we doing it for? Does it gain us anything in God’s eyes? No. Does it really gain us anything in people’s eyes? Likely not, and it’s irrelevant if it does. We should be talking about God and what He’s done in our lives NOT to gain glory or praise from anyone, but because He is important to us! Nothing we have done or could ever do could make us worthy of what Christ did for us to save us. Our scorecards will NEVER measure up. Thank goodness they don’t have to.

I love this quote from Bob Goff in “Everybody, Always”. It says it all.

“The promise of love and grace in our lives is this:
Our worst day isn’t bad enough, and our best day isn’t good enough.
We’re invited because we’re loved, not because we earned it.”
~Bob Goff, “Everybody, Always”