I am somewhere between “might play and won’t play.” My team is getting increasingly stronger as new, experienced players enter my community and current players improve at a rate faster than I can improve. So playing against other clubs is uncertain. It is what it is.
There is another team I play on that not only does not have a depth chart, but one on which I am eagerly sought. My skills are not great, I have too many weaknesses, and improvement is less than spectacular. Why, then, am I even on this team?
It’s God’s team, of course. I was born to be on it—for eternity, no less. God sent His son to coach me back to the team when I stray from my relationship with Him. And I am welcomed back with great joy when, after abandoning the game, I realize that there is no other team worth playing on.
But what of my meager skills? How could I possibly qualify? Fr. Joe at St. Mary’s, Stuart, FL spoke to this incongruity with this story. As a seminarian, he confided to his spiritual advisor that he felt unqualified and unworthy to be a priest. His advisor responded with, “Joe, your problem is that you don’t know how low God’s standards are,” and illustrated this point with the story of the thief on the cross. (See Luke 23:39-43)
Friend Tony Josephs reminded me of the tense, awkward time in grade school when you were lined up to be picked for a team, hoping not to be the last person standing. He also reminded me, consistent with Fr. Joe’s story, that God points at you, mentions all your faults and says, “You are exactly the person I want. Come join my team.”
It is an awesome feeling to know that I don’t have to earn a place on God’s team and that I don’t have to compete with others for a place on the court. Beautifully, magnificently, it is what it is.
Note: The expression, “how low God’s standards are,” may be misunderstood. This instance applies to God’s lovingkindness to all, regardless of their spiritual state. It is expressed through the life of Christ who came to call the sinful, not the righteous. At the same time, “no one is good” meaning no one is good enough to stand before God who is goodness Himself. By accepting Christ through faith, we inherent His perfection and so are accepted as pure and holy.
