#All about Jesus

"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world -- like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put in on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." Matthew 5:13-16

It is dark outside. Spiritually dark. Morality is more and more socially constructed. The gold standard presented in ancient texts is viewed as... well... ancient.

Our secular society, steeped in relativism, is a place of hypocrisy. The other day I was perusing the aisles of Children's Place, a popular story for infant and elementary aged children. I was trying to find t-shirts for my daughter. Here are some of the sayings:
  • "On Fleek: a state of complete flawlessness. The quality of being perfect."
  • #Girls Rule the World #GirlSquad #Strong
  • "Princess? No, I'm the Queen."
Now I get what they are trying to do. The company, along with the current fashion trends, are trying to empower girls in a world that has been dominated by men. However, I couldn't help but shake my head in mild disgust. Is this the message I want you, my daughter, to believe? That you are number 1 and your gender is now superior? That you get whatever you want, no matter what others think? That you are absolutely perfect and whatever you choose to do is 100% justified and morally correct?

No!

Our family is crazy over the Toronto Maple Leafs, so much so, that when we travel, people mistake us as being from Toronto because of our fan paraphernalia (Easterners??? Noooooo...). I have been pondering the sports culture especially since you, my son, are so enamored by it. Sports franchises have strict codes of conduct for their players. You have to eat this way, dress like this, be here, go there, do that, and when you are on holidays, you gotta watch your behaviour so it doesn't look bad on the organization. It doesn't matter if you feel better in the colour red! Your uniform is blue. Deal with it!!! Who cares if you grew up cheering for Montreal. You are a Toronto Maple Leaf now. Stick to the system if you want a million dollar salary to play the game that you love! You think you are awesome because you scored 20 goals in Europe? You are not the King here. You are the servant. Do as I say if you want ice time.

Hmm... Dichotomous views. On one hand, you are awesome for choosing whatever you want to do, because whatever you do will be perfect, not matter what. You WILL BE noticed. On the other hand, you are awesome if you systematically follow the rules and regulations to become perfect. Hopefully you will get noticed...? Who is correct?

None.

The truth is, you are not perfect. No matter what you do, you will never become perfect. You will struggle and you will be far from flawless. You will try and try and try to fit yourself into some moral standard and you will never measure up. And when you don't, you will either wallow in self-loathing or create a new convenient morality to take pride in.

But there is hope. In Christ. "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs," (Matthew 5:3). This is the posture we need to embrace. We are spiritually poor. We are not the Queen or the King. We are the poor peasants begging for food. We need Christ. Not ourselves motivated by some positive empowering slogan. Not some intense, systematic 10-step program to win. And when you find yourself in this place of spiritual poverty, prostrate before a Holy God in utter humility, you are given His Kingdom. You will be noticed!!! You will become like Him if you let Him. And when people see all the amazing, wonderful things you will do in your life, you will point people to Jesus and say, "It is about Christ, not me."

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