2012: Bigger and Better?

by Stephen Carl

Have you ever played Bigger and Better? Youth groups sometimes play this game – there are different teams and each team starts with something small and inexpensive, like a toothpick or a paperclip. When the teams head out the door, they go to a house in the neighborhood and explain that they are on a journey to trade whatever item they have for something bigger and better. After 60 to 90 minutes, the teams are to return to the church to compare what they’ve received for their trades and talk about the experience. I’ve seen teams return with a riding lawnmower that was repaired by the property committee and used for lawn maintenance and a dresser that was donated to the Salvation Army.

2011 is past, it is history. A year ago we had hopes and dreams for 2011 and now we are perhaps disappointed. Now we look with sober hope into 2012.

What might we trade in order to make 2012 bigger and better than 2011? What might we trade of our habits and attitudes to discover a bigger and better self? Remember, the game of bigger and better happens in little steps – one doesn’t trade a toothpick for a lawnmower – between these two are minute trades. In other words, don’t set your goals so high that they are unachievable. However, neither should we aim too low, for remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Coming to this epiphany takes a series of smaller trades in faith.

--> Perhaps trade 15 minutes of sleeping late for scripture reading and prayer.

--> Perhaps trade one Saturday morning a month to volunteer.

--> Perhaps trade the evening watching television for a Bible Study with other bargain hunters.

--> Perhaps trade a default attitude of defensiveness for an open mind and heart.

--> Perhaps trade a routine or habit for some new challenge.

--> Perhaps trade the hesitation of speaking about your faith for a heart so full of gratitude it spills out in casual conversations.

--> Perhaps trade the lukewarm hope of spiritual growth for an actual effort to intentionally grow spiritually.

--> Perhaps trade gossip for actually getting to know the one who is the object of gossip.

--> Perhaps trade righteous indignation for forgiveness.

--> Perhaps trade . . .

Whether it’s conscious or not, we all play a version of this Bigger and Better: trading, bartering, searching for bargains, something to trade away in order to receive something of value – a smile or compliment; being valued by someone whose opinion we value; something for our children or grandchildren to make their lives rich with purpose and meaning. As hard as we try, we often end up with not something bigger and better, but a heart that feels bruised and battered.

Until we genuinely encounter the One who exchanged His biggest and best for our worst through the Cross. You see, what God gives in Jesus and Jesus gives in his sacrifice is a bargain – an exchange of righteousness for salvation from sin, an exchange of love for redemption from despair, an exchange of the enslavement of earning approval for the freedom of grace, an exchange of grief for gratitude, an exchange of rags for the garment of grace. Those redeemed in this extravagant exchange are not disappointed. They know that God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, shall not be diminished, shall not be devalued, but have the rich and abundant life for which they were created.

When youths have played Bigger and Better, they are always surprised by what they receive in making trades. You will be too.

May 2012 be bigger and better than your expectations!