Confidence

It may seem like common knowledge to, when we are building a house, make sure that it has a firm foundation: maybe one made out of concrete or something similarly reasonable. But alas, we don't always operate on this important concept...like when we build entire cities on top of water.

Beautiful trophies though they may be, they don't withstand the elements very well, not to mention that Venice is slowly sinking into the ocean. #Atlantis

The whole sturdy foundation is also important so things like this don't happen:

People, we need to take the bible literally, sometimes: 

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." - Matthew 7:24-27

Like I mentioned above, houses built on top of and along oceans are beautiful, but they aren't good for much else (living in, basing a life off of, etc.) The wind comes and they fall off the cliff and dissolve, revealing that they were just trophies, only good for admiring.

If my life were a game of monopoly, I'd own a lot of houses (maybe a few hotels), but I would not be able to say that they were built on rock. In my life, I have a couple trophies that I like to line up around boardwalk and wow the passerbyers. Just like my kingdom is uprooted when my adorable nephew tramples across the monopoly board, my "trophies" don't do much in terms of weathering life's storms. I was reminded of this today in my Spanish class: I gave an oral presentation, translated quite a few words wrong, and felt totally crushed when my teacher told me how much my errors would affect my grade. Ugh.

I've been through enough college to know that I'm not the smartest kid around, but I've also done pretty well and gotten good grades. I like to think of myself as a good student. I have been one my entire life. When things like the situation in Spanish class happen, it really can shake me up. In high school, it made me worry that I wouldn't get into college. Early in college, it made me worry that I wasn't cut out for college, and then that I maybe wouldn't get into the graduate programs I wanted. Now, when the future is becoming more evident, I don't have much to lose if my grades slip a little. That is, except for my identity. I am guilty of putting too much of my identity in my grades. I like to get A's because "it's who I am." My grades are important, I try to do my best, and I like to be rewarded for it with GPA points. 

But a life built on GPA points is like a house built on sand. The commands that are talked about in the passage from Matthew above? God says that my confidence and my identity is to be placed 100% in what Christ did for me on the cross. My identity is that of a sinner redeemed, not an honor student. My identity isn't in my ability to steward my brain/gifts well, but rather I am expected to be a good steward of my education because it is a gift from God, to whom I belong, to whom I owe my life. 

It's frustrating how wrong I am sometimes, and this Spanish class of mine is clearly a tool that God is using in my life not to punish me, but to show me how much I need him. I can't do this "life" thing on my own, I need to rely on His strength. My grades don't mean anything if I view them as my 'salvation' instead of a tool that I can use to reflect well on the salvation I have in Christ. That brings me back to why I'm taking the Spanish class in the first place: to share the love of God. I signed up to better my Spanish skills so that I can communicate with the Nicaraguan natives when I am on the mission field there in March. SPAN 212 isn't about grades, it's about Christ...just like everything else.

Reality check