My Dad can Beat up Your Dad!

“Yeah!? Well…My dad can beat up your dad!” I retorted after an extended verbal battle of who was faster, stronger, smarter, etc.  My friend Tyler and I had bickered back and forth laying out comparison after comparison.  It began with who was faster, he or I.  He insisted that he was the faster runner and contrarily I argued that I was in fact faster.  What was ironic is that neither of us was willing to put foot to track to prove it…likely each of us feared that we could not live up to our self proclamations. 

We argued about who was stronger and smarter, who could eat more tacos and who could hold their breath longer.  Finally when we had exhausted all other avenues we diverged to esteeming our fathers.  He insisted that his dad used to play for the San Francisco 49ers, which had to be a fallacy, while I insisted that my dad could beat up his dad, what was probably a reality. 

At the time, my dad could bench press a Volkswagen beetle…probably without the engine…and maybe filled with helium balloons…but still…I’ll bet he could have. 

That is how most elementary school boys will banter…at least at some point and to some degree in their preadolescent years, and I was no exception.  I am coming to see that it doesn’t stop with adolescence.  In fact, I think that this is a pattern we see in much of society.  We, as humans, work so hard and spend so much energy trying to proclaim our value. 

What we don’t understand is that we can do nothing to make ourselves more valuable than we already are in the eyes of God!  It is incredible! In Matthew 18:1-14, we find Jesus’ disciples approach him with the question, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God.”  Let’s be honest…that is an absurdly silly question…they are talking to the greatest!...Jesus himself!  Yet, they ask, likely trying to find where they themselves sit in the pecking order of eternal hierarchy.

It is at this time that Jesus does something truly extraordinary…he pulls a young child aside and says…”here you go.” (paraphrased).

In this moment, Jesus reveals that to be great in the Kingdom of God, you must come to him with nothing to offer…only trust in HIS greatness.

May you come to see you are of great value to God…not because of what you do, but rather because of “whose” you are.