A Christians Report Card-- I still pass if I get a C (don't I?)

What does God really think of us when we take the attitude that we've done what he has said we have to do, so then we just "sit on it" and live our lives and do our thing, waiting for the next age in which we may be more ambitious? We get involved in discussions-- arguments in many cases-- on this board and others about points that matter little compared to many others, and I sometimes wonder if we (certainly including I) do that to feel as if we're making some kind of contribution to the truth, when in reality we are substituting this for the time we should be involved in programs and missions.

In school, in my long gone days, and sometimes at home as well, as a usually good and smart kid [can the snickers], there were times I decided to give up any extra effort and just "get by" with a C or with a sloppy job mowing the yard or straightening up my room. It was either being lazy or wanting to read, watch, or work on what I wanted, instead of what I was assigned. My teachers and parents always "jumped on me" (I thought) too much for simply doing the same as so many kids. "I passed, didn't I?" I would say. But teachers would lecture, "You know you're capable of better work than that, and I want you to make more of an effort next time." It was hard for me to understand why they would get upset with me when I passed. After all, they just had a job to do and they did it, and I'm just supposed to get good enough marks to keep advancing from one grade to the next. As for parents, they said I ought to 'take more pride' in the place I lived and keep it neat and orderly, rather than just being content with things being "as good as anybody else's."

And then there was the related issue of trying to wrangle out of trouble with that same attitude of doing what was required, and sometimes trying to use technicalities. For example, I have an older sister and 2 younger brothers, and we had grandparents who for years stayed with us while both parents worked. When my sister was 13 and I was 11, we were then given charge of the house and the 2 younger brothers, with my sister bearing the primary responsibility. We were to clean up (the house and ourselves) and see that we all got supper of some kind. But when my sister got to be 14 and 15, she began running out on me and going around with her friends. The parents found out one day that she left at 4 o'clock and didn't come back till after 7, when our dad got off work (our mom workd "split hours," 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., then 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.). They told her the next day she is not to go anywhere until we get the 2 younger guys fed. So the next day at 4 (almost 2 hours early) she put 4 frozen pot pies in the oven and said she has 'made dinner' for everyone, so then she went out and got in a car with some of her buds. I don't really remember any more about that particular incident, but apparently after that and being grounded she attended to her duties better, at least most of the time. But then, as high school things-- band, drama, et al-- began taking more of her time, I began shirking and leaving the 2 brothers on their own too much and telling the parents, "Hey, ya'll said it was [sister]'s main responsibility." Ready and willing we were not, in spite of being able.

So when God looks at us as from the viewpoint of parent or teacher, what does he think about us? Most Christians (IMHO) are the lousy attitude type ... "I accepted Jesus and I go to church, at least every once in a while; I keep my language cleaner than most people I know, and I try to be fair and honest and moderately restrained when I can-- isn't that enough in this world that's always hurting me or trying to take advantage of me?"

On one hand, God's standard is perfection. On the other, none of us come anywhere close to that, so why try? Why make more effort when we already know we've failed the standard? Teachers and parents-- maybe they don't have a 'standard of perfection,' but it's true that the higher the capability of the individual, the higher the achievement they expect. God must be the same, for he has transferred his perfection standard and given us another way to achieve it. And he has no obligation to treat all individuals exactly the same, as he did not treat all nations the same in the days before the gospel of his Son. Israel knew the law and had agreed to worship Him only, so when they broke that covenant he dealt harshly with them by allowing them to be conquered by pagan nations, in spite of those pagan nations being more evil and idolatrous. In the age of grace, then, does he deal harshly with Christians who know his Word, but often "cop out" and think of lame excuses-- "I'm only human;" "I'm as good as anybody else;" "I work too many hours to be a goody-two-shoes when I'm off;" ... going to even worse excuses, such as "That's why I needed his grace in the first place, so he'll forgive me now, too, won't he?" Anyone with this type of approach needs to read and reread those middle chapters of Romans.

As to what it really gains us to strive to be the best we can be in the eyes of God, just doing so because he's God and we're not should be enough. We may consider the parable of the talents and think in terms of rewards, as we presume from scripture there will be rewards for those who used what God gave them profitably. But we can't ignore the one who hid his one talent so that it gained nothing. That's like in school if a challenged student turns a test paper back in, having done nothing with it. If the student had at least tried-- as the man with one talent should have at least lent it out and gained a little interest-- there might be a passing grade. But no effort at all means an F.

Sometimes I wonder-- is the man who buried his one talent like a Christian who says he doesn't care about having riches in heaven (as Jesus did refer to), as long as he doesn't go to the other place? Hoping to be let in with a C- average, he is afraid any Defaulted loan will put him down to the D for Damnation. He doesn't even let it be known he has anything entrusted to him. So, hidden and buried, It can't be lost. But can he? That ought to be motivation to make the grades we're capable of.

Finally, if we're not like the servant who hid his one talent, but we do at least invest it and gain a little-- in spite of the tariffs and trade wars of the world's interventions-- what does He think of us when we still take the attitude, "Well, I'm not a candidate for graduate school in this anyway, so an occasional C, or even D, won't ruin me."

To the above, I remember some teachers in high school who seemed to have a double system of grading. There is always the grade you deserve, based on test scores and how assignments are graded. But when we went to a "quarter system" of trimesters, with finals at the end of each twelve weeks, there was a program of exemptions from finals. Students who were content with their grades, as they were, did not have to take the final, provided the grade was C with no more than two absences, B with no more than three absences, or A with no more than four absences. However, teachers retained the authority to require a student to take the exam if that student met those standards but still, in the teacher's judgment, showed a poor attitude. And there were some teachers who gave a number grade for attitude which was part of the overall average, along with homework grades and test scores. If I had become a teacher, I probably would not do this on the grounds that attitude "shows up" somewhere in a student's work, so it is 'automatically' included in that way. But school teachers know students by what they see in them. God knows all of us perfectly. So if a teacher might require us to do extra work or take an extra test because of a poor attitude, might God require even much more than that? If we do seem to incur more testings in life than, we think, are required to show our abilities and what we can do with them, could it be because of an attitude?-- or perhaps because of too many "absences" where we refuse an assignment that would have been an easy A, so now we must take the final, a difficult test which may indeed be "final" in another way? I think this is worth considering. But there are no tricks involved-- the Teacher who issues the grades and the Parent who signs the report card are one and the same in this eternal case.