Recently, I have been updating an old book of mine on the subject of prayer that has gone out of print. I ran across these thoughts that I wanted to share with you about being a Christian. So from the book:
I love being a Christian. It is the ultimate no-lose proposition. All my life I have been involved in organizations and institutions based on performance. I played on athletic teams where my performance dictated my opportunity to participate. At the level where my performance peaked, I lost the opportunity to move to the next level of competition. My value as an athlete was based on my performance.
I also have twenty-five years of formal education under my belt. I can safely say I am educated beyond my level of intelligence! Academic achievement is based on performance. As long as I performed well I was able to advance academically and be rewarded with high grades and advanced degrees. Even in ministry my success or failure is based on my performance. If I perform well, and people are helped, I am praised and affirmed. When my performance slips, or I fail to communicate effectively, I receive criticism. Enough criticism and my job is at risk.
In virtually every area of our lives we are evaluated and rewarded on the basis of performance. This puts us all under incredible amounts of pressure. We all know that in every arena in which we perform we are eventually bound to fail. That is why I’m glad I am a Christian.
Becoming a Christian was the one experience of my life that was not based on my performance. I became a Christian on the basis of my failure and Jesus Christ’s performance. The church is the one organization in the world that has as its criterion for membership our corporate failure. We come together because of our powerlessness and lack of performance. The ultimate motto of the church is “We are all bozos on this bus!” It is called grace.