Sullying the Image

 

Mediocrity.

Good, comfortable, mediocrity.

No one rises above anyone else. No one keeps score in case someone might show themselves more able, more bold, than someone else. We are not only all equal in our dignity and humanity but we are all the same in our abilities and our courage. There are no heroes. There are no innate leaders. We are not challenged. We are satisfied.

Bah. 

Even Jesus knew that a society founded on mediocrity doesn't work. 

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." -Rev 3: 15-16

I am often mocked for finding truth in philosopher (and fierce capitalist) Ayn Rand, but sometimes, I just can't help it. Some of what she has to say rings true.

We don't want any great men. The great is the rare, the difficult, the exceptional. Set up standards of achievement open to all, to the least, to the most inept, and you stop the impetus to effort in all men, great or small. You stop incentive to improvement, to perfection. 

This is why Jesus spits the mediocre out of His mouth. He wants excellence. He made us for perfection.

"Be ye perfect, like my heavenly Father is perfect." - Matthew 5:48

Perfect. And He's not kidding.

We may forget that we were made in God's image, but He hasn't. He did it and we are expected to live up to it. That means to be the best we can be, the most Christ-like, the most holy. We are to strive, not slump into perpetual, amused relaxation. 

There's a reaon for this.

There will always be venal men or women who will exploit our ennui. They will take advantage of our contentedness with the average and rise above, not with ability or nobility but with shrewdness, greed, and calculated corruption. Look around. We already live, at least partially, in this world. Do you wonder why?  Look in the mirror.

To what extent have you been given a vision of a life, a community, that offered something more than vanilla and done little to work toward it?

When have you been satisfied not with your best, but with just good enough?

To what extent have you traded the hours of your life to being amused?

Even the church can forget that, although we are taught to be the servant of one another, that assumes that everyone involved understands the principle of godly service. When some don't, we don't have a community of mutual service, but of servants and masters. Instead of all of us serving God, we end up serving someone who has no God. We are not to yield our godly image to them. We are not to forsake our holiness or our excellence to the service of those who dominate and destroy. 

We are responsible for preserving what we've been given and this is done one soul at a time. It is done starting with you.

image: istock