Thought for Today
Exodus 34:26 The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.
Psalm 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Matthew 23:6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,
Luke 15:22 But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe-- the best one-- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
“In the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, the comparative degree is used for two things, the superlative for three or more.” (Essential English Grammar, Dover Publications, 1966, pg. 124)
In English we often form the comparative by adding -er to the adjective, the superlative by adding -est. Why are we so fascinated especially with the superlative? Some days it seems like everything I encounter is the best or even ‘the Greatest of all Time,’ or ‘the GOAT.’ Given my own age, if anyone ever finds something at which I am the greatest or best of all times, I don’t want to be called the “Old GOAT!’
I am willing to stipulate that Jesus does qualify as the greatest Messiah of all times. I do not ever plan to refer to Jesus as the GOAT. Although I am a city boy, I have seen goats at the Houston Rodeo Livestock Show. Goats are not pretty. When wet, goats do not smell good. In Texas, goats are not beef cattle. I do wonder, when Jesus ultimately returns, will there arise a dispute about which Incarnation is the greatest of all time? Why are we so fascinated especially with the superlative?
My first recourse in any dispute or speculation is to look in the Bible. I don’t find much in the Bible about greatest or best. I have read speculation by some scholars that the extremely long lives attributed to some of the Patriarchs might be meant to indicate they were especially holy, some sort of rank-ordering of ancestors-in-the-faith whose holiness led to long lives. But, that is speculation. The Bible doesn’t specifically say that. David is often held up as a great king, as an especially righteous king, as being close to and favored by God. But, search as I do, I cannot find any rank-ordering of the kings of Judah or Israel.
Why are we so fascinated especially with the superlative? Why do we try to rank-order everything? I did a web search of ’10 best lists of 10 best lists.’ Not surprisingly, my search engine found multiple sites to suggest. I could probably spend the rest of today, tomorrow and many tomorrows in the future looking at the multiplicity of suggested sites.
What do you suppose God would say were he asked to list the greatest of his children? Who might be the GOAT? What would be the criteria for any such evaluation? The Bible does tell us often what God expects from us. I reference Micah 6:8 and Luke 10:27 so often, I’m surprised my computer doesn’t just randomly insert them every so-many sentences.
First, God requires that God’s children love. Certain specific categories are enumerated, but the requirement itself is love. Love kindness, love God, love each other. God requires that we ‘do justice.’ If we love, that should make doing justice automatic. God asks us to walk humbly with God. In most human societies, humility is not a valued or cherished commodity.
We know what God requires of us. We just don’t always want to do what God requires of us. Were we all to live lives based on loving kindness, doing justice, walking humbly with God, loving God and loving each other, this would be a different, better world. Maybe even the greatest of all time, the GOAT.
Why are we so fascinated especially with the superlative? Why do we feel compelled to rank-order everything? Were we to live as God has commanded, everything would be the greatest of all time. Everyone would be the greatest of all time. God would answer that question of who is the best with a resounding “YES!”
I like to close with a bit of encouragement associated with whatever topic I have discussed. Today, I will not encourage anyone to be a GOAT. Instead, I will close with:
Stay safe, listen to what God has asked us to do, trust God,
Pastor Ray