This righteousness from God comes from faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. –Romans 3:22-24
A while ago we had a meeting at work. To illustrate a point, we each had the name of a famous person taped to our backs and we were supposed to ask the right questions to find out who we were. I had only been able to discover I was a woman who was not an actress. One of my coworkers took pity on me and gave me a hint by saying, “It’s the person you are most compared to here at work.” Rather than helping, that baffled me even more. Ultimately they broke down and told me it was Mother Teresa. My reaction was laughter with a touch of hysteria.
As a result of that little exercise, however, and without my even realizing it, something began to change in the way I related at work. Let me give you some background. When I began that job I had a hard time. Without going into all of the details, I had been suddenly torn away from a job I loved and was relocated to this new position, and immediately there were a number of other personnel changes which put me in a very difficult and uncomfortable situation. I felt stressed and desperate for a long time. I encountered opposition wherever I turned and feared I might have to resign or that I might be let go. There were times when I felt that, no matter what I did, it would be twisted and turned against me. I finally came to a place where I surrendered and simply told God that, instead of focusing on trying to please people I would rest in the fact that he loved me and was pleased with me, and therefore, all I wanted was to be a blessing in this job. Every day when I arrived I would put my hand on the door, take a deep breath and ask him to help me to be a blessing, and then I would walk in. Slowly but surely God made my paths straight. I became more comfortable and confident in the position and I watched God smooth out the rough relationships which had caused me so much concern until I finally felt at home.
Two and a half years had passed when we had that meeting where someone made the light-hearted remark that the person I was most compared to at work was Mother Teresa. Part of me was struck by how much had changed in those two and a half years; but, another part of me felt honored that anyone would even jokingly say that about me. And in that moment I began to worry. I know what happens to people on pedestals, they fall off! No one is exempt, because no one is perfect! I suspect that even Mother Teresa was no “Mother Teresa” all the time, but her reputation may remain intact since she is dead; unless there is a tell-all book. I, on the other hand, am very much alive and very human. I suddenly felt an obligation to try to be the person they seemed to think I was.
And, do you know what happened? The more conscious I became of how I was supposed to act to maintain the image of who they thought I was (translated: My Christian Witness) the worse I became. I was easily annoyed, and when I become annoyed I get snippy and dictatorial. I also became self-righteous and sometimes downright rude. My focus was on the mistakes and failings of others. I was a mess! I began to dread going to work again. All of this happened without my grasping what was going on. I woke up one day and realized that I had gone on a downhill slide and didn’t know why or how it had happened.
What had happened was, I put my focus on myself and started judging what I was doing for God, instead of focusing on Jesus and what he did for me, and I immediately started looking at the people around me, and judging them; it’s a law of human nature.
Fortunately, God gently shook me and reminded me of the good news again; the news that I am a mess. I have no image of my own to maintain. Any goodness I have comes from the only One who is good, so I don’t have to try to be something I am not. I just needed to let go, once more, of trying to please people and rest in the fact that God loves me and is pleased with me; then, joyfully, go back to just wanting to be a blessing.
