All In For Him

In an online conversation with sportswriter Bill Simmons, writer
Malcolm Gladwell talks about why people don't try hard. He says it is
because know that it is easier to not try and then fail, and that it
would be devastating to try and then fail. Since they were talking
about sports, he used an example of an athlete who was content to mail
it in, since if he failed he could say that he didn't give it his all.
He then used an example of another athlete who was afraid to try his
very hardest, because if he and then failed, he would be absolutely
devastated. He then used a third example on another athlete, who
wasn't afraid to try his very hardest, and who had the mental
toughness to deal with the greatness when he succeeded and the
demoralization when he failed.

I think Gladwell is right. I think fear of knowing that at your very
best you're still a failure is what keeps many people from trying
hard. And I think being tough enough to try your hardest and deal
with what happens if you fail is a rare thing to find in a person.

I bring this up because I think a lot about greatness. As a
Christian, I understand that there are different definitions of what
it means to be great and what it takes to get to greatness than what
the world might say. But I still think there is a Christian
definition of greatness, and a Christian way to get to it.

And so I wonder if I and my contemporaries are too often scared of
greatness. We are afraid to give our all to pursue it, because we'll
be devastated if we fall short. We settle for half-pursuits of
Christian greatness because we are more comfortable being
half-successes than complete failures. We may even look with
suspicion upon people who are "all in" for Jesus, thinking them too
emotional, too inflammatory, too naïve, too imbalanced.

But what if God is calling us to greatness? What if He has placed
upon us a unique combination of talents, resources, and opportunities?
What if He has given us His Son, His Spirit, and His Word? What if
He has given us a mission field that is oh-so-ripe for harvest, a
mission that cannot not be fulfilled?

I watched a Veggie Tales DVD with my daughter yesterday. It was about
Esther, who her uncle Mordecai said God raised for "such a time as
this" when she had the opportunity to appeal to her husband the king
on behalf of her people. Esther bristled at the responsibility. I
think she just wanted to be a regular, nice teenage girl.

In the movie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the lead character comes to
grips with her special powers and purpose: to slay vampires. She too
bristles at the responsibility: she just wants to be a regular, nice
teenage girl.

What about us? I believe God has called each of us to something
great, that He has called us together as the church to be great – in
His way and for His sake. And I am ashamed to say that I and others
are all too often found trembling at the thought of being "all in" for
Him. We would rather not try so that if we fail, we can say that it
was because we didn't try. We would rather not give it our all, lest
we fail and have to deal with the wrenching psychological
vulnerability of knowing that at even our very best we are still
failures.

Some of us who try will indeed fail. And thanks be to God that He has
enough room in His heart for failures. And some of us who try will
instead succeed. And glory be to God when His greatness is made known
through those successes. Either way, I hope I and others in my
generation will have the moral courage and spiritual toughness to be
"all in" for Him.