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Tonight during life group we read over the story of
Jesus and the rich young fool. In the very beginning of this story, I realized
something pretty crucial that I have been realizing over the past few months
but I have not found a Biblical argument for it until now.
Matt 19: 16-17
16 Now behold, one came and said to
Him, “Good[a] Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal
life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you
call Me good?[b] No one is good but One, that is, God.[c] But if
you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
What I had never gotten out of this story is that
Jesus redirects the man’s value judgment of him. The man calls Jesus a good man
and Jesus responds by saying only God is good.
Now there is a very long theological debate in here
somewhere and I accept that there is certainly a chance that I am wrong. That
being said, it seems to me that while Jesus does not refute the mans value
judgement, because Jesus is actually good, that I, being inherently separated
from God by my mistakes could refute a similar value judgement. Maybe even as a
believer, I should refute it and direct the praise to one that I know truly
deserves it.
It hit me the first week we were here, when in out
teacher training we were told not to tell our students that they are smart or
dumb. I talked about this research more in depth on the blog post for the 27th. So I
wondered today, what is the effect on us when we are told we are inherently
good at something or just good all-around? Can we develop pride from that? The
things we are really good at, I would argue are gifts God gives us and not
things we should take all the credit for.
One of the things that I learn as I become closer
to God is that I am above no other human, but I am also not below them. There
is an almighty and perfect God and all people. Those are the only two class
distinctions that I believe in. When I look at these kids, they are all so cool
and have so much to offer the world in their own unique ways. The idea that I
could come here to help them is flawed because that implies that they have
nothing to offer me. The opposite has certainly been true, while I am at a
point in my life that I can help them learn them some knowledge that they don’t
currently have, they have also been teaching me just by the ways they act and
by the incredibly deep and beautiful things that they say.
God bless and all the best,
Dylan Rollins.
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