“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
We are capable of more than we think. When I want to be inspired, sometimes I’ll look up “People are Awesome” on YouTube. These videos are montages of amazing examples of human dexterity, agility, coordination, skill, and pure physical prowess. While there is a small element of chance, most of these feats represent hours, or even years, of passion, dedication, practice, training, and not a few failures or broken bones. There is an inherent accountability: failure results in direct and immediate consequences. That’s part of the process. We learn from our mistakes, resolve to do better, work diligently, and strive for success. We need to set expectations in order to achieve excellence. None of the incredible accomplishments in these videos are accidental. They didn’t just happen. There’s much more to it than that.
A great achievement in my life was the day I threw my hat in the air as the Thunderbirds flew overhead and I graduated from the Air Force Academy. That didn’t happen by accident, either. It represented years of hard work, dedication, commitment, and not a few failures (no broken bones, although I did dislocate a shoulder and almost broke a collar bone doing a forward dive roll over four classmates in Judo class). I was pushed beyond what I thought I could do. Expectations and accountability were a big part of that process. Basic training with the obstacle course, confidence course, assault course, leadership reaction course, and much more, built teamwork and created a new horizon of potential, what I believed I was capable of accomplishing with my classmates. Academic performance was measured by our GPA, but we also had a military performance average (MPA). We had to pass a physical fitness test (PFT) each semester. Our rooms were inspected, our uniforms were inspected, and there were occasional random drug tests. We lived by the Honor Code: We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Violating the Honor Code (e.g., leaving campus without signing out, taking a pen from your roommate’s drawer, copying an answer to a homework problem, etc.) normally resulted in disenrollment. For those not in intercollegiate sports, we competed in three intramural athletic seasons per year. Almost everything was measured, evaluated, or graded. Our days were scheduled with marching, classes, athletics, training, and an academic call to quarters. We even had lights out at 11:00 p.m., which was perhaps the one thing nobody enforced, thank goodness! It had its drawbacks (and its good times), but with the support of my classmates, I did and accomplished more than I ever thought possible.
Does God have expectations of us and hold us accountable? We usually think of this question, if we think of it at all, in terms of sin. The short answer is yes, but because of his great love for us, God offers us new life and forgiveness of sins through his son, Jesus. God’s mercy never fails. We can be reconciled to God, time and again, if necessary. Of course, God want us to avoid sin, but he also wants us to grow in the full potential of love for which he made us. We are capable of more than we think. The lives of the saints are our version of People are Awesome videos. They show us what is possible, but they didn’t happen by accident, either. All the elements of human achievement are given to us for us to reach our potential: passion, dedication, commitment, practice, training, and, even, failure. Because of God’s hope for us, they are also grace. They are a gift for us to become who we were meant to be. God’s expectations for us and our accountability for those expectations are really God’s abiding hope for us and his grace in our lives. He wants us to accomplish more than we ever thought possible and gives us the tools to do so. In the end, it’s all grace. God never calls us to anything that he doesn’t also empower us to do. God never gives us a gift that he doesn’t also want us to use. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more, thank goodness!