The Scoreboard

Football coach, Chuck Noll once said, “The nice thing about football is that you have a scoreboard to show how you’ve done. In other things in life, you don’t. At least, not one you can see.”

We like to keep score, don’t we? We like to know how we measure up, know where we stand. And that is important to a certain extent. To grow and learn and expand our horizons, it is good to set goals that can be measured.

On the other hand, measuring ourselves against other people is usually not good. And keeping score of other people’s wrongs is deadly to our spiritual formation.

Jesus once told a parable about two men – one a Pharisee and the other tax collector. The Pharisee prayed, “God I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of my income.” But, the tax collector prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

About the tax collector, Jesus remarked, “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other…”

You see, the Pharisee was keeping score of his goodness and other people’s faults. This kind of scorekeeping distanced him not only from other people but also from God.

Today, may you remember that God loves you deeply. There is nothing you can do to earn God’s love or forgiveness or grace. There is no competition here. It is a sheer gift!

Let us pray: Loving God, we acknowledge that it is easy to find fault with those around us. It is easy to find fault with ourselves. This day, help us to put away the scorecard, to accept your love and grace, and to share it. Amen.