Taking the credit

When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’ – Luke 17:10 (NAB)

When I was in Grade 4, we had a group skit for Home Economics class. I became the leader for this particular group and I designated myself to write the script for our presentation. It was about a girl who hated fruits, and her conversion (to loving fruits) story (Hey! We were a bunch of ten-year-olds learning about ‘go’, ‘grow’ and ‘glow’ foods). On the presentation day itself I wasn’t present to be part of the skit, for I was at rehearsals for the school Christmas cantata (how I became part of this production is also interesting, but it’ll be in another entry). When the rehearsals finished, all I caught was the last portion of our skit. I was happy coz the class liked our skit, as did our teacher. She gave kudos to the writer of the story; I was about to blush in humility when our teacher mentioned, not my name, but the name of my group mate (who also happened to be our class president).

I was flabbergasted (of course at 10 I didn’t know this word yet). I can’t believe somebody else took the credit for something I labored for so hard. It meant that the bonus grade would go to her instead to ME, the one who really wrote the thing. I told my parents, who wrote my teacher, and in front of class my teacher corrected herself and said that the praise she gave our class president was supposed to be for me. I felt vindicated.

If there was one trait I was taught early, it was to assert my right to take the credit for what I DID. I guess that’s one reason why I always wanted to be in at the top of things; it feels good to be credited for doing something. It gives life meaning and distinction. It gives power.

I became so hungry for that power and distinction, it became insatiable. If nerds have a bad reputation and is rejected in high school, I embraced it. I was such a nerd that I joined every single quiz bee or contest I can qualify, even if I wasn’t good at it. I joined a national Chemistry contest, for crying out loud! Not satisfied with that, I even joined beauty pageants! Of course, there are the student council elections. If I won’t be a beauty queen or professor, I can be a politician. Still distinguished, still recognizable.

What am I saying? I did all of those because I was UNpopular and I wanted to be popular.

But popularity isn’t what Christ came here for. In fact He fraternized with the unpopular: tax collectors, harlots, sinners. But I bet in Heaven humans were unpopular, too: we were the creatures who got booted out of Eden. We were the ones who had the nerve to turn our backs on the One who is sustaining us day by day. The angels must be so ashamed of us, heck they can even disown us, for all of humanity’s disgrace.

But Christ, the cool Son of God chose to be uncool by taking on the human form and, worse, being friends with the worst of its kind. Why? Because He loved us and wanted us to come back to the Father whom we turned our backs to, Who wants also us back, but sin blocked the way. The only one who can unblock our path to the Father is Jesus, who is the Way Himself. By dying on the cross, our sins were removed, washed away by His Blood; all we need to do now is accept that the only path back is through Christ.

For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, we have, in any way, NO right to boast of whatever WE DID to be saved. We can’t take the credit for it; we didn’t do anything. All credit belongs to Jesus. Our only part is the acceptance of Him saving us; if there’s one thing we can boast about, it’s that we have been save through the cross.

Just as a servant cannot boast of cooking dinner for his master because it is the servant’s duty to do so, we cannot boast of our service to God the same way, for as His followers we are obliged to do so.

Reminder to self: everything I did, I did through Christ who strengthened me.