So What?

A revolutionary thought struck me while playing H-O-R-S-E with my eleven-year-old son. "So what?" Okay, here's the context. He is just like me. Hyper competitive. Loves to win. Must win. Although he is a gifted athlete and basketball player, he lost his rhythm and began to miss shots that he normally makes. Because he is like me, he began to get angry and show frustration. So we stopped the game to talk about it.

As I put myself in his shoes, I realized how easy it is to find my identity in my own performance and ability: like shooting a basketball, knowing the capitol of Vermont, having obedient children in public, succeeding in planting a new church, or even preaching a good sermon. Then it hit me: so what? So what if I miss the shot and lose the game? So what if I don't know the capitol of Vermont? So what if my children make me look like a dufus parent in public? So what if the church plant fails or if someone criticizes my sermon? God is still God. I am still his crazily loved son with a imputed heavenly record of utter perfection! His decretive will has not been thwarted. God's glory will not be diminished. In fact, if I find my life in my success and ability, then, on an earthly level, His glory will not be as clearly seen, for the self-righteousness that I pursue through accomplishement will seek to eclipse the righteousness that God gives through Jesus.

This means that if I can learn to live by a "sanctified" so what, then I will be free from the bondage of me. I am free to shoot the rock and miss. I am free to say "I don't know." I am free to focus on my children's hearts and not just their behavior. I am free to fail as a pastor and preacher. I'm free now to live by grace to the glory of God by boasting in and resting in the success, ability, glory and righteousness of Jesus.