Council Community Church

Pastor's Corner

SUPER-DUPER 9-30-05

I know of a young man who entered Junior High some years ago full of academic enthusiasm and love for learning. He did his work, studied hard and had his hand up to give the answer to every question posed by the teachers. What was his reward from his peers? Ruthless verbal ridicule, ostracism from activities, overall rejection. How dare he challenge the apathetic, just-get-by norm of his classmates?

Unfortunately, this boy folded to the will of his all-knowing peers and buried his giftedness, because others didn’t want to be challenged by it. His intellect made them uncomfortable and reminded them of their own shortcomings, weaknesses and perhaps laziness.

“The Incredibles” hits this issue head-on. The boy Dash, blessed with super-speed, laments the fact that he can’t go out for sports because he needs to blend-in with the crowd: “Dad said…our powers made us special.” His mom replies: “Everyone is special, Dash.” “Which is another way of saying ‘NO ONE IS’,” comes the perceptive retort. Indeed, each individual is special to the LORD, but to no longer strive for and recognize the exceptional only robs us of the greatness which God put into us.

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.” (Psalm 139:13-16)

God intends for us to use whatever He has given us for His glory. Competition is not to be shunned, because it allows excellence to surface. Granted, that excellence is intended by God to be used for the greater good – not simply personal gain/aggrandizement. But it is certainly not intended to be buried because others less gifted in that area might be offended. It also brings no glory to Christ to produce an artificially “level” playing field on which “everyone wins,” because this only breeds mediocrity. Everyone is a valuable, unique creation of God, but everyone is not a winner in every arena of life. That would be a bland gruel to choke down! How would God’s beautiful diversity be shown it that? How boring!

The bottom line is that we want things our way. We don’t want to trust that our Maker knew what He was doing when He put us together. We think it’s not right that others get what we want! “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” (Romans 9:20-21)

On the other hand, we can lose perspective and pursue excellence/success at any cost. Consider the use of performance-enhancing drugs in athletics. This is nothing but cheating by means of anabolic steroids. Why would so many thousands of teen, college and professional athletes cheat to win? Because we refuse to trust that God knows what He is doing. We aren’t satisfied with being the best that we can be; we demand that we be as great as WE want to be.

“…I’ll sell [people] my inventions so then everyone can be super-heroes; everyone can be super. And when everyone’s super…NO ONE WILL BE!” (Syndrome – villain in “The Incredibles”) Unfortunately, when people cheat, the exceptional becomes commonplace, and then it is meaningless. So real greatness is lost again. Either extreme destroys the appreciation of what God has placed into us.

May the Holy Spirit cause us to excel in areas of strength, accept our limitations in areas of weakness, and unjealously admire the giftedness of others. (1Corinthians 12)