Tuesday 24th October
Two months after I was born, Leeds United broke the British football transfer record by paying Leicester City £165,000 for Allan Clarke. Earlier this year, Chelsea paid an estimated £30,800,000 for Andry Shevchenko. With that money they could have bought 186 Allan Clarkes and still had the money left over for a couple of Denis Laws.
Many people have strong opinions on the rights and wrongs of the football transfer market. I mention it simply to highlight that a large value factor in today’s society is based on a person’s performance. Whether that performance is on a sports field, on a film set or in an office, it seems that if you perform well then you are valuable. Of course the reverse implies that if you don’t perform well then you are not valuable.
Of course we then need a panel to decide which performances should count in a person’s life. A very successful businessman may be a lousy parent, and there have been numerous examples of brilliant sports star who have been unable to handle the everyday pressures of life.
It is, of course, very satisfying to complete a job and know that we have done well in it. However, are we ever tempted to move that along a degree and believe that God will love us more if we do well? Do we ever think that if we have a successful career or ministry or family then we have more to offer God than others and are ultimately more valuable to him? Have the ways of the world crept into our own value system?
If we do we become less effective to God because we start to rely on our strength rather than his.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27:
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things to shame the strong.
It is when we realise how weak and foolish we are that God can fully use us. | 