The Prize Is Not Achievement

The goal of striving isn't performance. It's transformation. And the two could not be more different.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good morning. This is Northword.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

The goal of striving is not performance, it is transformation. And the two could not be more different. Good morning. This is Northword, the Word, the North, your week, a daily podcast from St. John's Fort Smith, in collaboration with the Anglican family. I'm your host, Father Aaron. Today's episode is brought to you by Barrows Pizza in Fort Smith, the best pizza I've ever had outside of New York. And that's saying something. I want to make sure I have not left you with the wrong impression of what striving is for. All week we've been talking about striving. And striving is not performance. It is not the anxious, exhausting effort to be good enough for God. It is not earning your way. It is not white knuckling your way through the Christian life in hopes that sufficient effort will produce divine approval. That is not striving. That is religion in its worst form. The striving St. Paul calls for in the Bible, the striving Jesus calls for in the Gospels, for when he says press through the narrow door is something different. It is the striving of someone who knows where they are going and wants to actually get there. Not to impress anyone. To become someone. Here's the difference. Performance is about how you appear. A transformation is about who you are. You can perform without changing, but you cannot strive, generally strive with your whole heart over time without being changed. Think about an area of your life where sustained effort has changed you. Maybe you learned an instrument. Maybe you trained for a sport. Maybe you built a skill. Maybe you developed a relationship. The person you were before that striving, and the person you became after it, you are different. Not just in what you can do, but in who you are. This is what the spiritual striving produces. The goal of the striving life is what Paul calls in Ephesians attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Not perfection earned, fullness received. Through the daily repeated faithful movement of the whole life toward God. You know my wife, she makes bread. She has made it so many times for so long that the movement are parts of her now. She doesn't think about each step. The craft has become part of her character. The striving has become being. That is what the spiritual life is after. Not someone who tries hard, someone who has been formed through discipline, through wrestling, through walking by faith into the fullness of who God made them to be. That person is not striving because they have to. They are striving because they have the taste what they are becoming and they want more of it. This has been Northward The Word, the North Your Week, a daily podcast from St. John's Fort Smith in collaboration with the Anglican family. The goal is not performance, the goal is transformation. That is worth striving toward. Use the text us link in the description to reach out. We would love to hear from you and where you are on your journey and how you are striving along. And until tomorrow, may God be with you.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Amen.