Bragging Rights

Jamie's sister, brother in law, and their three kids were staying with us this past weekend. Both the nephews have wristwatches that are also step counters.

As one should, my youngest nephew and I decided to have a contest - who could take the most steps in ninety seconds.  Keep in mind my nephew is young (it was his 10th birthday) and energetic, However, what I lack in youth and energy I make up for in cunning and guile.

While my nephew ran in place with regular steps, I did the smallest possible movement to register as a step and ran in place with baby steps. And I won. By the end of the day my nephew had taken thousands of more steps than me, but since I won that ninety second contest, I was the undefeated step-taking champion of the world - a crown I still proudly wear.

So until we have another contest, I have bragging rights. My nephew may walk circles around me day after day after day, but when push comes to shove, who is the undefeated step-taking champion of the world? This guy right here.

Have you won any bragging rights in your family or group of friends? Maybe you're the milk-chugging champ, or the asparagus-eating champ, or maybe you have visited the most countries or have the craziest stories or know the most music and movie trivia.

What is your claim to fame?

I was reading through James this week, and I was struck by how he opened his letter:

"This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."

~ James 1:1

If you were to read some other New Testament letters, you'd see the authors introduce themselves in similar fashion:  "a slave [or servant] of Christ" (Paul), "a prisoner for Christ" (also Paul when he was writing from prison), "a slave and apostle of Christ" (Peter), "Christ's servant" (John), and "a slave [or servant] to Jesus" (Jude).

The authors were writing in a culture much like our own in that people were often vying for worldly glory, and they would display their qualifications in their correspondence. This is why I'm amazing. These are my credentials. This is why you should listen to me. Look at all the titles attached to my name.

So if I were to write to a letter to my nephew, I would obviously begin it with, "From Uncle Nick, the undefeated step-taking champion of the world."

However, when the apostles begin their letters, they do not boast about matters of worldly glory like their eminent qualifications or how many steps they took in ninety seconds. They boast that they are slaves of God and Christ.

What an upside-down way to begin!

PAUSE and REFLECT: When you put your best foot forward, what bragging rights do you include? You may not be the undefeated step-taking champion of the world, but perhaps you have other, less glorious, credentials you want people to know about.

This may be well and good in a vocational setting where qualifications are important, but do you also do it in personal settings, or ministry settings?

Often, the more attached we are to our credentials, the more we want other people to know about them.

Not so with the apostles. Their only claim to fame was they were servants of Jesus. It wasn't that they didn't have other qualifications, but that those qualifications didn't matter to them.

For example, in his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul shared all his credentials as a Pharisee. He lists qualification after qualification, but then in one of the most powerful passages of the New Testament he writes:

"I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.

~ Philippians 3:7-9a

So once again, where do you place your confidence and claim your bragging rights? If it's anything other than our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then our confidence and bravado is misplaced.

I wear the crown of being the undefeated step-taking champion of the world, and it's probably the highest human title anyone could ever hope to achieve on this side of eternity. You wear your own crown of (lesser) qualifications. Jesus wears a crown of thorns, and his crown is enough. 

I can lay down my crown and embrace my role as servant of Jesus.