Why Bother?

Human nature dictates that each person is compelled to perform well. The endless cycle of try hard, do well, then fail seems like a pointless and depressing fact of life. In fact, it leaves many people wondering what the point of life really is if we all fail so miserably.

You try your best to become financially secure only to have an illness or injury wipe out your savings account and threaten to leave you living on the streets. You pour yourself into your job only to be passed over for that big promotion, again. You study for hours only to flunk out of that necessary chemistry, causing you to miss graduating with your peers.

The examples are nearly endless. Life is chock full of disappointments, hardships and unfairness. God may look on the intent of a man's heart, but that doesn't mean that good intentions will make you successful in life.

So why bother to strive for excellence? Why does God create each of us with a drive to do good, and the inability to accomplish it?

We strive for excellence because God commands to press towards the mark of the high calling of Christ. We are to strive to become more Christlike each and every day of our lives. But this is not accomplished by trying harder. It is most often accomplished when we fall the hardest. Utter failure has a way of making is face our inability for what it is. It removes all other choices except for learning to submit and abide in Christ. For many of us, complete submission is one of the hardest concepts to grasp and put into practice.

Without the life giving vine of Christ we are destined for failure and misery. In Christ, we have abundant hope, joy and life. Which will you choose today?