The Lowlight Reel

In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  And he wrote in the letter, saying “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”  — 2 Samuel 11:14-15

When a young person wishes to play college sports, they are constantly filming their games.  Within those games, the athletes pick out their best moments, put them in a short video, and send them to college programs in hopes of impressing the coach enough to play for them at the next level.  A quick search reveals that these videos should be 3-5 minutes long, and the best 4-5 plays should be placed at the very beginning.  The student-athlete is trying to make the best impression possible so they may be admitted into the program.  In the final 2 years of a high school football player, barring injury, they will play a minimum of 20 games at 48 minutes a game.  This means they get to pick the best 5 minutes out of a possible 960 minutes.  That comes to 16 hours, and the athlete chooses the top half of the top one percent of that time.

I believe many people believe that heaven will operate like this.  God looks at our life, let’s say 80 years, which (counting leap years) comes to 29,220 days, or over 1.7 million hours of life.  God will look through all that footage, find our best few minutes, show us how good we were, and let us into heaven.  Every person has a highlight reel, yet most people are going to hell.  Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.  Many are going in through that wide gate.  Narrow is the gate, and straight is the way that leads to life, and very few people find it. (See Matthew 7:13-14)

I remember writing an essay for District Teacher of the Year back in 2009-2010.  I was chosen by my school as teacher of the year, but now I had to write a one-page essay on why I deserve this honor.  The first essay I wrote checked all the boxes.  I gave them my highlight reel.  I didn’t feel right about turning it in.  I felt like I was making myself look better than I was.  I wrote another one.  This one told of how little I cared during my first several years.  It told of how I had no clue what I was doing, was constantly frustrated, and wondering why in the world I went into education.  I was ready to throw in the towel and find another job.  It told of how one day I read one little Bible verse, Colossians 3:23, and it changed my attitude towards not just school, but my entire life.  It told of how I began to enjoy teaching.  Nothing changed about the kids, my co-workers, or the administration . . . only my attitude.  I let the committee know that in no way did I deserve to represent the District as teacher of the year.  As far as teaching is concerned, every one of the other candidates are much, much better than me.

I won.

I think about standing before God in heaven.  What if He asks, “Why should I let you in, Adam?”  I have no choice but to say, “You shouldn’t.  I know You could show me a lowlight reel that is a lot longer than my highlight reel.  I know that You could embarrass me and show me just how unworthy I am to be in Your presence even at this very moment.  But I believed that Sunday school teacher when he told me I needed You in my life.  I eventually read Your book.  I eventually came to love Your book, Your ways, and You.  I can’t paint myself in a good light, Lord . . . I only believed.”