Mark 8:36 - What good is it for someone
to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
It was reassuring last week when I went to
the local pizza place and saw what I think as a typical Canadian
disagreement. The order of pizzas was
not what the woman who ordered them was expecting. In the ensuing conversation, the woman
ordering apologized for not being clear enough in her order, and the woman at
the counter apologized for not getting the order right. After a bit of an exchange it was decided
that the woman ordering the pizzas would keep the pizzas – even though they
were not what she wanted – and the woman at the counter would give her a
discount. It was a win-win situation,
but not for why you might think.
I
was pleased to see such an example. Most
of the time, I see errors in services being used as an excuse to act tactlessly and
gracelessly. There is an offense that
the person taking the order did not get it right and that it is a personal
slight. As well, the person taking the
order insists that the person ordering had made the mistake, and the
requisite implication of the person ordering having a lower than normal
intelligence.
This
might be a strange example to focus on, but it works for me in its
simplicity. I seem to be inundated with
messages of how to be successful in the world.
It seems to me that we have become enamoured with the idea of “no one
fucks with me.” I see it every day. It is now not only acceptable to be rude to
people; it seems to be the preferred way of being. I see it clearest when I am driving, and
probably so do you. Road rage is
contagious and spreading. It seems
acceptable to not only cut someone off but to give them the finger while doing
so. Twice in the past week, I have
almost been hit by people running red lights, who seemed somewhat angered that
I was in their way.
So I ask you, how do we define success?
I think for a Christian it is an important
question. Not that I think that we
should not be successful in materialistic ways, but that we consider really
what is more important. Like the two
women at the pizza place, what seemed to be important was not the pizza, but
the being decent human beings.
So,
I ask myself, and invite you to do so as well.
What is success in your life? We
are told that in putting the Kingdom of God first, that success will be
ours. But when I read the scripture,
Matthew 6:33, it is not the greed that I see so often portrayed, it is the
understanding that the pizza was not important, but the being decent was. There will always be pizza to order, but perhaps not the opportunity to be a decent person.
Yes,
I can have the home that is perfect, and huge, and not yellow. And I can have the truck and the car and the
motorcycle. As well, I can have the other
toys that I seek. But what does that
benefit me if in the process I lose my soul?
When
I first read this scripture, I read into a view of God that if I did not behave
that I would be punished, I would lose my soul.
These days, and maybe because it is closer to when I actually get to
meet with him, I view the passage less punitively. It is not that my soul is taken from me, but
that in seeking success, in seeking the world, that I give up what is more
important.
For
me, as I look at my life, my success lays less in material possessions, but lays
in who I am. My success lays in being a
good husband, in being kind, and thoughtful, and supportive. My success lays in being a good father, similar
virtues as a husband. My success lays in
being a good employer, kind, and fair.
My success lays in being a good neighbour, generous with what God has
given me, compassionate to those around me, and willing to be the one to work
for change.
In
considering success, I think of 1 Corinthians 13; that if I do not have love, I
have nothing. I see the women at the
pizza place having both won. In their
exchange not only was the world a better place, they had the joy of that
exchange to last the evening. An even
further win, a week later my world is still a better place.
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