Minimum Theology
Armando examines how the Word stands against the culture.
“Well, at least I tried.”
As a math teacher, I know I teach everyone's least favorite subject. If I had a dollar for every time I heard one of my students say the above statement over the six years of teaching, well, I wouldn't need to be a math teacher anymore. I usually let it slide, but at least once a quarter, if not more, I try to speak against this type of thinking. I do it in different ways, but this time it was the morning after I led family devotions with my children and told them, “I know you feel like dad is hard on you sometimes, but I'm trying to prepare you for life's trials.” Our text was in James, where the brother of Jesus implores his readers to consider it all joy when they experience various trials.
I opened this text with my math class and explained to them that trying isn't enough. In life, trials will come, and those trials will be much harder than math class. When they do come, the participation award thinking will not help us. Trying does not deserve a gold star. I explained to them that our attitude toward the hard things in school reflects where are priorities lie. My students at that moment were not communicating, “I tried my best for the glory of God, and so that's good enough.” Which is a true statement. God is pleased with His children when they make every effort to glorify Him in every area of life.
In fact, God demands that of His people. In the book of Colossians, He commands “In everything you do, do it with ALL your hearts as to the Lord and not to men (emphasis added).” God knows His people will fail because they are not His perfect Son Jesus, but He also knows Jesus' blood covers them. So He commands them to make every effort to live in light of that great gift.
As I looked at my students, I tried to tenderly tell them, hardships will come, and I want you to be ready. As I shared, I told them we give effort to what we care about, whether it’s football, baseball, dance, singing, art, or coffee. But God tells us that His standard is not a minimum attempt, it's maximum effort.
One day, my students will not be able to look at their spouse, shrug, and say, “Well, I tried to be a good husband.” They will not be able to look at their kids, shrug, and say I tried to be a godly mom or dad. They won't stand before their God and shrug as they say I tried to be a good Christian. All of those things they should and will want to do their best, except when they don't see it as important. When we let these small things slide, we allow our kids to think no one notices they are giving minimal effort. God does. God is never pleased with this participation award theology. God does not give us gold stars for going through the motions. So I promised them I would help them, but they had to try their best. We moved on to the next question, and they obliged. Will you?