During the ice storm, we were honored to hear Jonathan Pennington, professor of New Testament interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, give a talk to a group of young adults we hope will be leaders not only in the church but in every aspect of life.
His talk has applications for how we view our world and incorporate it into our common life together, especially through our politics.
There is an innate human tendency to assign blame for whatever is going wrong in our lives to other people and sometimes to ourselves. It is far easier to point out the fallacies of others, of course. Christians believe we are made in the image of God, which sets up the challenge of how we see and deal with ourselves and others when we make mistakes, no matter how grievous or innocent.
Once we start down the slippery slope of assigning blame, it becomes easy to not see ourselves or others as fellow humans but as lesser creatures in the animal kingdom. Pennington pointed out that even in Psalms, David bemoaned his wretched state by comparing himself to the lowly worm who was scorned by his fellow man and despised by his own people.
Being compared to the lowly worm might not be as common in modern life as perhaps it was in biblical times. But the point is that the more we compare others or ourselves to worms or any other lower form of life, our expectations will be fully met, and we will become fully depressed and distressed about life here on Earth.
It got me to thinking about my days coaching youth sports in Northern Virginia, where I learned from some great coaches and researchers with the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University about how to get the best out of your players and teams. Their research found that young players, especially, will live up — or down — to the expectations of their coach. For each negative blast from the coach, at least six encouraging statements must be offered just to keep the player at the level he was before the critical comment was made. More, of course, are necessary to help pull the player up to the full potential he may possess to be a great team player.
The question then becomes how do we see ourselves and other people with whom we interact on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? Do we see them as disgusting worms simply to be tolerated, or worse, punished with hurtful comments?
Pennington turned the entire presentation on its head when he asked what it would be like if we could see everyone, including ourselves, as God still sees them, and us, — as creatures created in His image in need of restoration. How would our speech and actions change and improve on a daily basis? Chances are very high that our attitudes, dispositions, family and business life and, yes, even our political life and public discourse would improve immeasurably almost overnight.
Instead of seeing others and ourselves as worms, how about if we see them through the eyes of God as equally deserving of encouragement, love, charity and forgiveness. This should improve our daily outlook on life and interaction with every person we encounter during the day. Who knows — any one of us might be the one person who helps another person reach the fulfillment of their God-given gifts during life, or maybe even help ourselves with a few more words of encouragement and love in lieu of criticism, hatred or venom.
Perhaps we should consider each person as God sees the honeybee, instead of a worm. The honeybee is known for the honey each hive can produce, not its sting. It takes entire hives of more than 80,000 bees to produce dozens of pounds of honey each year, although one individual honeybee can only produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey over its short six-week lifetime. Each honeybee, while faceless and essentially a nameless part of the hive, has immense worth and is critical to the proper functioning of the hive during its lifetime.
Maybe once we start seeing others and ourselves as having such intrinsic worth and ability to produce something good for the entire order, no matter how great or small the amount, our worldview and demeanor will change, and we will all be better off for it.
For more from Jonathan Pennington, listen to “The Human Flourishing Podcast.”
