Every slip and wobble, each hop and skip matters and means points being taken off. I’ve been watching gymnastics, of course, which must mean it is Olympics time once again.
Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed watching, and along with everyone else, I have been captivated by the US Women’s Gymnastics Team . It’s just that I don’t normally choose to watch gymnastics at any time other than the Olympics. Same goes for swimming and track and field events. But when it is Olympic time, I’m there! National rooting interest in a global competition will have that effect.
So this morning I tuned in briefly and gleefully watched the US Women’s Water Polo team crush China… And I won’t care a whit about Water Polo (which seems to be a fascinatingly brutal sport, btw) until the next Olympics rolls around.
But back to gymnastics. In addition to the incredible skill, grace, and athleticism of our women gymnasts, what I noticed most was the puzzling scoring system used by the Olympic judges. Routines that seemed to me to be nearly perfect were regularly downgraded at least a whole point.
Perfection these days is hard to achieve, and the judges are trained to notice things the rest of us miss. Like I said, every little misstep results in points being taken off. And on the Balance Beam, every movement and realignment to regain lost balance means a deduction.
For those of us who follow Jesus, life can seem like a balance beam. We are constantly struggling to stay on the narrow path and not fall off to either the left or the right. And like the gymnasts, the standard for us is perfection! Does this mean that each wobble and stumble (not to mention completely falling off) counts as a deduction of sorts?
Many of us, even those of us who are in Christ Jesus, live with this fear. God is like the Olympic Gymnastics judge, noticing each and every slip or misstep and counting it against us! The deductions keep piling up, and we have no shot…
The good news is our God is not like a gymnastics judge, and there are no deductions. There really isn’t even a score sheet! We mess up constantly in all sorts of ways, of course, but our lousy score has already been dealt with on the cross. God looks at us and sees only the image of Christ. Our standing before God is based on who Jesus is – a perfect score, and not our individual score with deductions aplenty. What great news! In Christ, we already have been given a perfect score! “Imputed righteousness” is the more technical theological term for it.
What then of deductions? Do they not matter? Ultimately, and by God’s utter grace, no! Our standing before God is assured. But our missteps do matter. What they deduct or take away from is our fellowship with God. The nature of sin is always to separate us from God. Things like unconfessed sin, patterns and habits we know to be wrong, negligence and spiritual neglect keep us from knowing the Lord more fully and growing in grace and faith.
In Christ, we know all deductions will be wiped away and we will be given a perfect score. Yet our spiritual life still matters. We can spend our life simply sitting on the balance beam terrified of falling off, or be more like the incredible gymnasts who have mastered their skills. They have learned how to do flips and to soar!
See you Sunday!
