You Rise Glorious by Mike Foster

Author:Mike Foster [Foster, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

LAUGHING AT THE LISTS

You will encounter a lot of lists in your life. Some are written on spreadsheets, others are written into our culture, and many are written in our hearts.

The VIP and almost VIPs.

The ins and outs.

The welcomed and the left-outs.

The white sheep and the black sheep.

The do-gooders and the not-enoughers.

We all live with the fear of not cutting it. Not getting in. Not belonging or being loved. It’s such a devastating thought that we do everything in our power to wiggle and wrangle and sneak our way onto the team. Then work our way to the top.

The college list says go to a respected school. Don’t get wasted too much, and figure out a way to graduate. If you have that piece of paper, you’re in the club and doors open up. Even if that means leveraging your future with a six-figure student loan, get on the list.

The career list demands you come in early and stay late. Performance is key, and don’t forget you’re lucky to be picked. If you’re not happy or don’t cut it, we have a hundred more waiting in the wings to take your place.

The sexy list requires you to give it all you’ve got to craft a smoking bod. The more heads you turn, the more you’re worth. If you can’t fit into your skinny clothes or if you’re not buffed or curved in the right places, you are off the list. Start looking old, and your days are numbered.

The popular list says to get noticed at all costs. If you don’t have a platform or a list of followers, you are nobody. No views, no hits, no likes—you are out of luck. Only movers and shakers belong on this list, and you have no influence.

I can go on and on. Whatever group you want to be a part of has a list. There are things you must do, approvals you must gain, or you are out. Lists demand you do what it takes to be included.

But the good news of Jesus is that his grace makes a joke out of every other list designed to give or deny value to human beings. Lists are laughable, just like my being number fifty-one. They don’t deserve respect. They deserve a hilarious chuckle.

Paul puts it this way in Galatians 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” So the only list that matters now is the list of human beings whom Christ loves, and the last time I checked, that’s a tiny group of people called everyone.

The great tragedy is that the very group meant to laugh at all the lists—the church—seems bent on making more of them. Rather than sharing God’s love, we make more lists.

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