My dad is an Olympic-lover, which means that if the Olympics were on, we were watching. (Where are all my ’80s friends that remember life without a DVR?)

After watching the 1984 Summer Olympics, I went to our front yard and pretended that the curb was a balance beam. In my mind, I was Mary Lou Retton, a gymnast from my hometown who I would see occasionally at a local BBQ joint. I  jumped off the 3″ curb with both hands straight in the air and pretended that I had just earned the USA a “10.” Thunderous applause erupted. The national anthem played. My performance was perfect.

Waiting to be Scored

When I step back and look at my life, I realize I’ve lived as if I were a competitor in a game waiting to be scored, judged and deemed perfect (or at least good enough). I had no idea who would tell me this score or when or even what they looked like. Although I secretly think this person is a female Norwegian Olympic judge.

So what do I mean by scored? I mean that I hoped the judge would say to me, “Hey Jill, you can stop trying because this is exactly what we were hoping for.” These pretend comments have to do with ceasing and approval. As an Achiever, I desperately need two things:

  1. The finish line of rest
  2. Outside affirmation

The Finish Line of Rest

As an Achiever, I will set a goal and work crazy-hard to the point of developing an obsession or detrimentally impacting my health and relationships only to accomplish my goal, and say, “Well, that was what you were supposed to do. What’s next?” I keep moving the finish line a little bit further down the field so I never get to stop the game. In Achieving, there is no grace.

Achievers achieve. We want you to believe we’re strong and limitless. We wish to appear almost super-human in our ability to work, produce, and hustle with nary a hair out of place. But what we are really working for is approval so we can rest. Achievers hunger for rest, but also repel it because rest is for lazy underachievers. Achievers aren’t oblivious to the tiredness. We just don’t know how to stop the game.

Jesus’ Finish Line of Rest

Because we don’t know how to stop, Jesus gives us some directions. Start by obeying the Shepherd who gives you rest. Accept the rest He offers. And then be still, which means to sink, relax, forsake. If you come, Jesus fills you up. The end of my work is the start of my rest in Him.

The Outside Affirmation

For the Achiever, there is no finish line because there is no one giving us enough feedback to meet our insatiable need for approval. What we’re dying to hear from the Norwegian Olympic judge is exactly what we do not: “You are good and perfect.”

How do we handle this? We believe that if we work a little harder and try a little more, we will surely get the recognition we deserve. And we pick up the pace of our try-hard life. And so the vicious game of striving for affirmation, the game without a finish line, starts again.

Jesus’ Outside Affirmation

In John 5:44, Jesus addresses our people-pleasing. He knows how we’re wired, and He calls out the crowd, “You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the Only God.”

The people never even tried to get God’s praise. They just wanted likes, a substantial friend/follower number, positive comments and smiley-face emojis on their wall. (I cringe when I read that because it is true of me today…) Okay, maybe not all that, but God knows they weren’t seeking His face.

Praise from God is possible. He wants us to have His praise. How to get it? I get it by remembering that I am a child of the King who desperately needs to find her dad. A child lost in the grocery store isn’t looking for just any face, he is looking for the face of his parent. Just like that lost child, we must look for our worth in the only One who can give it.

Next Steps (because as an Achiever, you’re dying for an action item)

I encourage you to calendar time for these questions:
1. How does it play out to forsake your goals + agenda and sink to His feet for rest?
2. What would it look like for your life this week to cease the striving for human likes and to turn to receive His holy praise?

Share
Pin
0 Shares