"What's In It For Me?"

"What's In It For Me?"

By:  Pastor Jack Schneider

“There is always a price to be paid in energy, time, money, and pain to succeed. You will only sacrifice when you passionately believe in the outcome.” [Dave Ramsey]

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”  [Mt.16:24,25, NIV]

“What’s in it for me?” he wanted to know. “My face on a Wheaties box don’t mean a thing without a big pile of dead presidents.”

No, to my knowledge, none of our Olympians have used this phrase; it’s imaginary, but not beyond our comprehension, is it? Straight, crass greed has afflicted these 2012 games -- just as previous Olympiads -- and at times I’ve been disappointed in the posturing and self-promotion. I suppose these are the athletes who figure they’ve paid the price of energy, time, money and pain, and now their actions and attitudes are justified and/or irrelevant. Swim, or get out of the pool; run with the big dogs, or get back on the porch.

But I’ve also seen plenty of medal winners…gold, silver, and bronze…graciously acknowledging those around them while displaying passion and heart. Clearly, they are not in London for the cash bonuses some countries are giving their medal winners [U.S. included]; witness 15-yr-old swimmer Katie Ladecky, the U.S. Gold medalist in the 800M freestyle, as she stood at the award ceremony with tears down her cheeks and lips trembling.

What’s the passion and heart that can be seen in us -- you and me -- as those around us observe this everyday life of faith to which Christ has called us? In Philippians 3 Paul writes, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of such things!”

What’s in it for you? Why would you invest the energy, time, money and pain to live as a redeemed, joyful child of the King? Because, to use Ramsey’s answer, you passionately believe in the outcome.

You do…don’t you?

- Jack