There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. // Galatians 3:27-28
Over the summer, I dove headfirst into a new skill of videography for the first time at a high school faith leadership institute hosted by my university. By the end of the week-long event, I had pushed myself far out of my comfort zone and created a video that captured the week’s experiences of prayer, community, and joyful faith. I was extremely proud of it, and the community loved it as much as I did. I had never felt so fulfilled after accomplishing something that moved people so deeply.
However, in the face of this fruitful work that I had done, my heart was drawn to the other things I had witnessed: the friendships I had made, the prayer I had experienced, and the community of faith that God transformed right before my eyes.
My work capturing the week was beautiful and good, but it paled in comparison to the work that God had done.
We often base our thought of the goodness of something on how productive, successful, or even moving that it is. Especially as an artist, it can be easy to measure my own worth on the talent I have or finished products that I create. We can be tempted to think that our titles are the most important thing about us.
I don’t want to measure goodness in that way anymore. After all, the most important thing about me is Christ. It’s the way I am loved by Him and the ways I go out to love like Him, too. To be clothed in Christ, like Saint Paul wrote in Galatians, is what makes us good (Galatians 3:27). When we believe this, our titles, accomplishments, and talents that set us apart from one another become reflections of Christ in us, an opportunity to give Him honor and glory, not ourselves.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t work hard at the things we are passionate about. In fact, when we see our identity as children of God first, we are free to explore work that is fruitful, relationships that are united, and lives lived beautifully for Him.