“If you ain’t first you’re last”- Ricky Bobby "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."-Jesus

We laugh at this statement delivered by Ricky Bobby’s (Will Ferrell) dope smoking, racecar drivin wannabe, half drunk always, absent father in the movie Talladega Nights, but the sad truth is that many of us live our day to day lives as though our actual value is more closely aligned with this thought, than with what is true about us as a result of the Gospel and what has been accomplished for us in Christ.

We laugh because we realize in our rational minds the pure lunacy of this statement. But we live in a culture that promotes an “enjoy it while your on top because you wont be there long” mentality as well as a feverish commitment to vain attempts of constantly reinventing oneself, in order to continue reclaiming that “top-spot” that you were never allowed by culture to loose in the first place. Consequently, although it goes against our better understanding and the reality of the truth, we live most days overlooking ground gained and victories lodged in our faith and life journeys simply for no other reason than we still can see someone else who’s “ahead” of us. Consequently worship and gratitude of the Lord, and his work in our lives, is replaced with self-absorption and anxiety, birthed of not being somehow “enough”.

We live in a world that is constantly measuring things. We are told that is the only way to tell if something is worth anything; only by it’s being compared up against something that’s found to be lesser. We ritualistically compare ourselves from areas that are simple to recognize such as weight and “beauty” to the more subtle and complex areas of heart, motives, actions, and the impossible to ascertain, (due to it’s non existence), “personal righteousness.”

What we are told in scripture that simplifies this are statements such as Romans 3:10 (As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one.) as well as Romans 3:22-24 (This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.)

This leaves little room for real discussions about class systems within humanity and a sense of personally being in a place of “higher worth” or “value” in the eyes of God. Our standing before him is certain, unholy and unworthy, and only in Christ are we found to, by his substitutionary effort, be able to be brought back into relationship with God, and the process of being made in to “Christ-likeness” begins (Romans 8:29). The imperative thing to understand is that not just the initiation of our relationship is in God’s hands, but the fully realized reality (sanctification to glorification) of this secure relationship is brought about by his grace as well. Our position and consequent action is one of receiving from the Lord, which gives fuel and birth (grace) to righteous living. (Hebrews 10: 14-because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.)

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It’s God who began a good work in us. It is God who will bring it to completion. Our sanctification, although something we participate in, is wholly his work to author and perfect through the work of his son Jesus, and the indwelling Holy Spirit (Hebrews 12:2).

This allows us to put down the needless “life/spiritual yardstick” that offers an unnecessary measurement. As a result of being open handed, it frees us to be where we are, in the process that the Lord is leading, ready to receive what He has for us in this day. This open-handed, day to day approach doesn’t sit well in a “if your not first your last” society. In a culture consumed with “wining” it is tough to reconcile the words of Jesus "So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16”

This statement was delivered by Jesus after he paid a man the same amount, (a days wages), as another man, even thought the first man had worked more than twice the hours. Although both men had agreed to the wage before the work, when the money got dolled out, what appeared as generosity to one man, looked as though, at the expense of injustice to another. Jesus response is profound; “don’t I have the right to do with my own money what I want?” Jesus, and His kingdom ethics, is breaking into a world already proving tethered to a “winning” mentality that takes desire and turns it into entitlement, and lives as though we “deserve”, rather than that all is an act of grace.

Jesus frees us from the “rule” of needing to be first. He gives us the freedom to love ourselves where we are, as he does, and live a life marked by receiving, rather than anxiously grasping, for value and meaning, that are only found ultimately in Him. Genesis 15:1"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”