Survivor

Remember when TV shows used to have a script? Now it seems like every popular show on TV is a “reality show” (that seems awfully scripted). Many of these reality shows, even those that are just about people living together in an apartment, seem to have some sort of competition attached to them. The winner would be the one who isn’t voted off, or who performed the best, or who made the correctly timed backstabbing moves to get them that prize.

Sometimes it feels like that’s a reflection of life. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, they say. We need to constantly give our best, perform our best, look our best, even it if means backstabbing our closest friends. We cannot lose that prize of life.

What if I told you that you already have that prize?

You do. It’s a gift. A gracious one. God has decided to love us all, even while we are sinners. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be doing our best, but it is to say that life isn’t a competition, it’s not a beauty pageant , and it most certainly isn’t a talent show.

The greatest prize of all cannot be won, because it has already been freely given.

God, thank you for your love which you so graciously give, a love that can never be earned. Amen. — NF