Winning The Golden Calf

We all want to win or succeed at something.   We strive, plan, work hard, dedicating a lot of time and elbow grease to coming out on top.  Cause let's face it most of the time success doesn't happen with a twitch of the nose. The American dream is about working hard, winning and being successful.  We as a culture fear failing.  I wonder sometimes if our efforts have become so washed up, that we've become best buds with mediocrity? Or another question.  Do we want the glories of success and winning so much it has become our idol?  Is the only security we feel tied up in rather or not we're top dog? Don't get me wrong I don't think winning in and of itself is necessarily bad. Success can be a blessing.  It can be a good thing to win or to reward someone for their efforts.  I just wonder if these two questions don't have some relevance for the way we handle ourselves in contemporary culture.  Are there times when the quest to win leads to a glistening golden calf?

Let's face it, we all from time to time make it look like we've worked harder than we actually have for the achievements we think we deserve.  We are hooked on the gratification of pats on the back or the high fives.  My millennial generation is anyway.  We were raised to expect to receive a prize for every little stinking thing we do.  By rewarding everything we did our parents thought they were helicoptering "world changers".   Aren't we to have saved the world by now? Or made it a better place? We should have at  least freed all the killer whales from captivity? Right?  Our bedroom walls were plastered with participation plaques and dusty trophy's.  Yes, we may have had some wonderful wins along the way.  But was all of it actually accomplishing much?  I can think of many times the results of not winning actually taught me more about life.

Yes, there have been those who have made great accomplishments, there have been those who have worked really hard leading.  And there have been many wonderful and positive results.  Yet, on the flip side we have rewarded a lot of mediocrities. We all know everyone is special so we can't hurt feelings. We can't point out ways to actually solve problems, learn and grow?  What happens then?  Standards get lowered.  We work to make our lives and our skill sets look better than they actually are. We spend a lot of time putting up fake appearance instead of just working to actually get better at something. We get so caught up in putting on appearances, looking like a winner, we miss the reality of our lives. As long as we look like we have success, we win something right?  The golden calf of winning is simply content with our appearances it doesn't have to get much deeper than that. The golden calf cares little about the quality of our life as families and as a larger society. The quest to be the best can actually hinder our true striving to do our best at what really matters in life.

The golden calf of winning grows larger with each person we neglect or hurt just to be deemed the winner.  Our vocations in life, however, are more about serving our neighbor, not ourselves.  The desire to win often times can lead us to hurt or neglect the people in our lives. The mantra "win baby win" isn't always so good when it pushes us to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means leaving others in the dust. Obviously cheating to win hurts people. Spreading gossip about someone simply so you have a greater chance at getting the job promotion.  Skipping a family dinner for the 3rd time this week to spend late hours at work. Not returning the call of a friend who's been sick because the prize is more important. Being too occupied to support your brother who is struggling with his marriage.   Zooming by the co-worker in order to get to the copier first.  Making one too many mommy brags about how perfect your kids are to the frazzled mother sitting next to you at the park.  When being a winner is the source of identity we can get carried away with trying to hold on to it.  The desire to win can make us out right rude, obnoxious and manipulative.  All these things can hurt others.  

The need to win can make us into control freaks "ball hogs" of life.  We have to be in control so we can get the most credit, the bigger piece of the win.  We blow off the teammates we are supposed to work with, neglecting the fact they may have some very good qualities to bring to the project. We get the idea that we can only work with certain kinds of people and those we don't think are good enough can just sit and watch from the bench.  We actually limit the amount of success we may have as a team because we want to be the star.  The Chicago Bulls are a good example of team success as they played a very different game back in the years when Michel Jordan was their star.  Yes, they had a star player, but they had a very deep bench.  Meaning that everyone was so well developed, so well polished, the team was ready for any given situation. All the players could play well together. When an alternate player was called in nobody was nervous.  They stood strong together. Everybody made a contribution. Our teams in life are much the same way, only as strong as the weakest.  It's good for us to put ourselves aside to help the growth of the weaker. It's okay to give up your time on the court of life and let someone else get in there and gain some experience.  Their experience will  benefit the future. The quest to appease the golden calf of winning wants us to believe that the utilitarian society we live in is of little significance.  The calf want's us to neglect the "team" or life together we have with our neighbors. The whisper is that we have to be in the spotlight all the time, but this is not really winning.




The reality of it is, the quest to win will not always lead to victory. There will not always be prize for everything that we do.  You see, winning isn't everything.  Life is not about living from one accolade to the next. And that's okay. Sure a compliment or a bonus, or a trophy is nice receive from time to time, but it's should not be the reason why we do what we do. There is a lot we can learn when we fail. There is a lot to learn when we've rolled up our sleeves and worked at something, helped someone else succeed, or simply just stopped to enjoy the all other wonderful aspects of life. Being a perpetual winner doesn't have to claim our identity. You don't have to win anything to have a family, work hard at supporting them, enjoy life because in those things you've already been given so much.

All in all the golden calf of winning can't do for us what we most need.  The calf cannot rescue us from sin, death and the devil.  The golden calf when it's all said and done is a big fat loser. He's a poor self centered sinner who needs a Victor to crush and melt down the hurts caused others, the fake successes, the desire to be like god, and the dusty trophies. Christ is that victor, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.  He crushes with His heel the idols and makes us His.

Through God only Son's life, death,  and resurrection victory has been won.  The victory of Christ is not a not a "will be won" either.  It's not something that we have to accomplish alongside of Jesus,  or is it some kind of pious opportunity of Proverbs 31 obedience we've simply been enabled to do.  We don't have to do anything, in fact we have a pretty passive role, as the Holy Spirit opens our hands to receive though God's Word.  The victory of Christ is fully accomplished it is already a new paradigm.  Salvation is finished through nail pierced hands.

It has been accomplished at Calvary, it is being accomplished and given through Word and Sacrament, it will be accomplished upon Christ's return.  As the church militant we deliver the goods of the victory to a crushed world as we carry on in our vocations day after day caring for our neighbor, pointing them to the free forgiveness and salvation that Christ the Victor delivers week after week through our baptism, a faithful pastor's proclamation, communion, all for our souls highest good.  As a church we don't need the golden calf winning which amounts to fancy programs or cultural emergent gimmicks to be a successful congregation.  Because already the church is successful as God's Word does what it says.  Week after week we are declared Forgiven, free, and victorious in Jesus.

So there you have it friends.  We are free to strive, work hard, and seek genuine success, and just be awesome in general. We are even freer to humbly love, serve, and build up our team mates, friends, family, kids, and competition.  So keep on keeping on!

Sola Gratia