“. . . seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Matthew 6:33 

We once had this rising star in our company, Will I will call him, who everyone had their eye on as someone who was going places.  Will was young, smart, and handsome with a magnetic personality, and the promotions were coming faster than they could print new business cards for him, moving his young family from one city to the next before they had time to unpack their boxes.  Being a bit older and more stable in my position at that point, I was aware of the hazards that come with such rapid rise of a young ambitious and capable person like Will.

Sure enough, my greatest fears for Will began to unfold one evening in a Las Vegas casino.  There was a company conference we were attending, and one evening as inevitably happens in Vegas a group migrated to a nearby casino.  Will stepped up to one of the game tables, and with his colleagues cheering him on, began placing bets that were way beyond his means, showing off to put it bluntly.  Although there was not much I could do to stop him, I do recall standing off in the shadows wanting to scream, “No Will, don’t do it!”  It paid off for him, though you might say, because soon after Will was offered still another promotion.  But then the wheels started to come off in his personal life as he became separated from his wife and children and eventually divorced.

Will’s downfall in his personal life can neither be blamed on his rapid rise in the ranks nor his long work hours or dedication to his job and company.  He simply got his priorities mixed up, something any of us can be vulnerable to.  Except by the grace of God, in fact, it could easily have been me.  That old joke we have all heard, “no one ever confessed on his deathbed that he wished he had spent more time at the office,” is really no joke at all but a wise proverb; or as Jesus tells it to us straight up, “seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  In other words, first get your priorities straight, number one being seeking God’s kingdom.

It has been many years since I last had contact with Will, but I pray he is doing well and has gotten his priorities straight.  He was such a smart, capable guy with tremendous potential.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 

I don’t think I cared an inkling about the game of volleyball, would not have expended the energy to flip the sports page to read about it or pushed a button on the remote to watch it on TV, that is until our thirteen-year-old granddaughter Corrina began to develop into quite an amazing volleyball player in recent years.  Not only watching her play – because she is my granddaughter after all – but witnessing her passion for the game and her dedication to improving her skills and abilities has inspired me to learn more about the game and gain a greater appreciation of it.

The unique characteristic I have observed watching our granddaughter’s teams is that unlike other team sports that are often led by one or two stand-out players (and she is one), the real star of a great volleyball team is, without fail, the teamwork itself.  The best teams, in fact, always seem to be the ones that work best as a team, who have a rhythm about them on the court as if dancing together.  When you see it, it is amazing to watch!

But there is another characteristic that has sort of baffled me, at least it has been true with the teams Corrina has played on.  At the end of every play, regardless of which team scores the point, the team members all high-five each other, which is understandable if they win the point.  But even when they lose, maybe especially when they lose, they still high-five, even with a player who may have blundered.  Because my focus has always been on my granddaughter’s team, and Corrina in particular, I have not paid that much attention to other teams, so I don’t know if this is a tradition of the sport, or a peculiar characteristic of my granddaughter’s teams.  Either way, I have wondered why that is.

Several years ago I was facilitating a board retreat where Timmy Newsom, former great running back for the Dallas Cowboys (1980-1988) was a participant.  Timmy revealed something about himself that I will never forget, that in all his years playing football he never worried about losing yardage on a play because there was always a chance to do better on the next one.  Hmm!  So that’s why those girls always high-five. 

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,” the Apostle Paul said.  Couldn’t we all do a little more of that – and do with receiving a little more of it too?

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  – Romans 12:21 

Several years ago a friend of mine was speaking at a conference where after one of his presentations he was approached by a man who began to verbally attack him over something he had said, or at least something the man had perceived he had said.  As my friend’s presentation was not of a subject matter that was especially controversial or political it was probably more the latter, an opinion formed perhaps by age, demographic, and geographical differences rather than philosophical ones.  At any rate, my friend managed to maintain his composure during his attacker’s tirade by respectfully acknowledging what he had to say and moving on.

That was not the end of it, though.  Later my friend sought the man out and invited him to have coffee.  Over coffee they began to chat and realize they had more in common than either would have otherwise imagined, not that they agreed on everything, but at least gained some respect for the other’s views, in a way perhaps even becoming friends.

I have thought about my friend’s story a thousand times since I first heard it, and probably told it almost as many.  One, it is so unlike me whose tendency is to strike back when attacked, or else to withdraw and sulk.  My friend is a much better man than me in that regard.  More importantly, though, I think my friend’s response comes as near to demonstrating true Christian living as any I have ever witnessed or heard; for if we are to live in the image of God, as recipients of God’s grace we should extend that same grace – that same undeserved favor – to others, exactly as my friend had done.

Forgiveness, I am beginning to learn, is not necessarily something we say, it is something we do.  Though he never used the word, my friend through his kindness toward his attacker, granted him the favor of forgiveness in the fullest way by transforming an adversarial relationship into one at the very least of friendly respect.

Paul says it clearly, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.”  (A cup of coffee can do wonders as my friend would attest.)  Finally, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

“Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.”  – 1 Thessalonians 5:15 

On our recent trip to Stockholm to visit family Tee and I set out one day to explore a particular section of the city.  As we emerged from the subway station and began walking down the street Tee casually suggested to me that we should identify a landmark to keep us oriented so we could find our way back to the train station.  It so happened at that very moment we were walking in front of an outdoor café, and no sooner had she said it than out stepped the proprietor of the cafe.  “Excuse me,” he interrupted, “I overheard your conversation, and may I point out to you that church steeple over there, a landmark you can see from almost anywhere.  Look for that and you will never be lost.”

As it turned out, that single event set the tone for our entire two weeks visiting Stockholm, as the café proprietor’s kindness and friendliness was in fact not unusual at all but rather quite the norm.  Soon we began to believe it to be the friendliest and most courteous city we have ever visited.  When boarding public transportation, for instance, whether a bus, train car, or ferry, if it was standing-room-only riders would jump to their feet offering their seats – even to us, strangers in a foreign land.  It was amazing!

In what is perhaps Jesus’ best known and most widely quoted parable, he tells the story of a man found lying in the dust on the side of the road beaten half to death and robbed of his belongings.  After a priest and a Levite hurried past to tend to their much more urgent business, a third man came along who stopped, tending to the victim, binding his wounds, then loading him on his donkey and delivering him to a place of care and safety, an act so profound that even in today’s news when we read about some kind soul stopping to render aid we still refer to that person, as from Jesus’ parable, a Good Samaritan.

The kindness, courtesy, and respect we experienced in Stockholm caused me to consider something about the Good Samaritan that I had never thought of.  More than just a one-off act of kindness – in contrast to the two who passed by on the other side of the road – it reflects an attitude, which in the broader society translates into a culture of kindness, courtesy and respect for others; for as Frederick Buechner once wrote, “unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily.”  As the Apostle Paul says, “Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.” 

“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” – Proverbs 30:8 

Is it true that the one who dies with the most toys wins?  Or how about the one who accumulates the most money and property, the real life “Monopoly” game?  What about the one who is the most brilliant and has the most advanced degrees, or the one who has reached the highest level in his or her organization, the one who has traveled the most, is the best athlete, the most talented artist or musician, has won the most awards, or become the most famous or the most powerful?  In the end who is the winner?

If you could ask the wisest and richest man who ever lived, a man who spent most of his life accumulating and experiencing everything he could, gaining more wealth and fame and enjoying more sensual pleasures than any of us could ever imagine, King Solomon’s answer would be none-of-the-above.  He summed it up in an essay we know as the Book of Ecclesiastes in which he declared emphatically that nothing on this earth can fully satisfy the desire for complete fulfillment – nothing.  “Meaningless! . . . Utterly meaningless!” he declared.  “Everything is meaningless . . . a chasing after the wind.”

Let’s be clear, however, Solomon’s intention was not to discourage the pursuit of success through hard work and best use of our gifts and talents; for there is no denial of our need to provide for ourselves, take care of our families and have the ability to help others, to prosper through our endeavors.  Yet, it does beg the question, how much is enough?

A wise father, the father of one of my closest friends, instructed my friend as he was completing his education and about to strike out on his own, “you need to have enough,” he said, “but you don’t need to have too much.”  I suspect my friend may have been confused at first by his father’s words, for he had worked hard at preparing himself to become successful as he had always been encouraged to do.  But his father understood the wisdom in the Proverb writer’s prayer, “. . . give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me my daily bread.  Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you . . . or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”  What a great lesson my friend received from his father, and what a gift that he passed along to me!  As King David once prayed, “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”  May we – all of us – never lose sight of that.