The Gospel Offers a Better Game

Dear Friends,

There is a game many of us play, though we rarely admit it. We look around at other people and assume they have things figured out.

We imagine that everyone else is more confident, more capable, more organized, more faithful, and somehow better equipped for life than we are. We compare our behind-the-scenes struggles to everyone else's carefully edited highlights. It is an exhausting game, and one we can never win.

The trouble is that appearances are often deceiving. The person who seems confident may be carrying doubts. The person who appears successful may be facing challenges we know nothing about. The person who looks perfectly composed may simply be better at hiding their worries than the rest of us.

One of the gifts of the Christian faith is that it invites us to stop pretending. We gather each week as people who need grace. We come as people who need encouragement. We come as people who need to be reminded that our worth is not determined by our accomplishments, our failures, or the opinions of others.

The Gospel offers a different way of seeing ourselves. It reminds us that we are known. Instead of wondering whether we belong, it reminds us that we are loved. Instead of encouraging us to compare ourselves to one another, it invites us to rest in the knowledge that God sees us completely and yet continues to call us his own.

That may not eliminate every insecurity or quiet fear we carry. But it does free us from the burden of proving ourselves. We can spend less time wondering whether we are enough and more time becoming the people God created us to be.

And honestly, that sounds like a much better game.

Peace and Grace,
Father Logan