Impressed

The truth of life is that there is always going to be someone better than you.  Earlier this week I watched the 149lb NCAA wrestling champion from Stanford, Aden Valencia, lose to a 19 year who has not yet graduated from high school.  I am impressed.

Additionally, I recently watched Gout Gout, (that is not a typo) an 18 year old Australian sprinter beat Usian Bolt’s U18 record time in the 100m dash. Just when you think there could never be anyone faster…maybe there is! I am impressed.

When I was in elementary school, I too would show off my incredible talents and abilities.  I would race other kids at recess.  Though I would win many of the races, I would often find myself losing to a kid named Kris.  The kid was fast…in fact, “she” was faster than most of the 3^rd grade.  I was impressed…perhaps more with her cute nose than her penultimate speed.

I flexed my value in other ways as well, in attempt to impress the 3^rd grade girls.  I would use my excessive flexibility to wrap my arms around my head so that the entireties of my arms were behind my back and not at all visible from the front.  I would then run around the playground crying out like an armless fool until my “unfriend” Mike would stick out his foot and trip me.  This proved particularly detrimental as I, having no hands in front of me to catch my decent, would smack down face first into the pea gravel.  Strangely, my goal of making the girls laugh was accomplished...sadly for the wrong reason.  I do not think that they were impressed.

I remember my young children crying out for my attention. “Dad look!” cried my 6 year old daughter who had just colored a beautiful picture of Cinderella. I was impressed. “Dad look at mine too!,” squealed my 3 year old daughter who displayed a nearly as lovely interpretation of Sleeping Beauty. I was impressed. “Dabba dook,” my 1 and a half year old daughter warbled as she showed me her accomplished massacre of streaking color across the face of a not so charming looking prince. I was impressed that she could make Prince Charming look so undesirable. “Dad look at me!” said my gleeful 4 and a half year old son as he sent sharp fishing hooks, flying from his superman rod, (inside the house), right into the soft new comforter in his bed where the hooks bit deeply into the fabric.  I was not impressed.  I realized that the kids certainly had a way of grabbing my attention as I was cutting the treble hook from my son’s bedding.

It is the pattern of life.  In some ways we are all seeking to grab the attention of others, attempting to impress those around us.  I know it is normal …but I think that there is also something that is better. What would it look like to be able to grab people’s attention and direct it toward God…that they would be impressed with God?

I think that is the message of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 23:1-12.  Here we find both cautionary and encouraging words as to how we ought to live for Christ. 

May the world be impressed with Jesus through our transformed lives.