Last week, the argument over the merits and evils of the BCS system involved not only the usual voices, but also at least four teams that felt they deserved the title of national champion. One of these teams even brought something to the table that no one else could: perfection.
Their elusive pursuit was realized; they could have done no better. And yet, the general sentiment in the sports world is that Utah should be happy with 2nd place. Even coach Kyle Whittingham believed that his team’s perfection had only earned them an “outside chance” at the trophy.
The problem is this: If Utah’s ultimate goal was the championship, and perfection was their only means to attain their goal, then they were guaranteed from the beginning that they would come up short.
This season Utah learned on the field what Christ-followers are faced with every day. If I am counting on my record to silence my critics and earn me a spot at the Victory Party, I will be disappointed. I will never be good enough to escape judgment. At the end of the day, I will hear, “You did good – but not good enough.”
Utah can say, “Look at our record – not one loss!”
They hear from BCS voters, “But look at your conference, no wonder you beat everyone.”
I can say, “Look – I didn’t kill anyone – not even once!”
“But people around you died and you did nothing to stop it.”
I can say, “Look how much money I give to charity.”
“Look how much money you keep for yourself.”
The conversation will continue until I accept that perfection (or near-perfection, or even just not being as bad as I could have been) earned me nothing. If I am banking on my record to get me where I want to go, then just like Utah, I am guaranteed a loser from the start.
In my spiritual pursuit (for peace in this life and security in the next), it is not my record that earns me anything. It is the merciful grace of God. He chooses to ignore my spotted record (even where it appears perfect, if the BCS voters looked hard enough they could find plenty of reasons to lower my ranking) and evaluate me based on the Truly Perfect record of Jesus Christ.
See you at the Victory Party.