Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Complaining about 10-3: ‘Ware This, but Even More Beware This Leader

Complaining about 10-3: ‘Ware This, but Even More Beware This Leader

Last updated on: December 9, 2019 at 9:39 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Complaining about 10-3: ‘Ware This, but Even More Beware This Leader 2019-12-09T09:39:27-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Packer fans can be demanding.

If you do not care about sports, wait a bit, as the Packers reminded me of a human trait that is terrible when found in leadership. If you have a friend who cannot enjoy winning, that is hard, if the Boss is never happy: may the Lord God have mercy on your soul.

On Winning, But Not By Enough

My team, and as an owner of a Packer share, they are one five millionth my team, the Green Bay Packers are 10-3 with three games to go. Win one and the playoffs almost surely will happen. Win all three and they will get a bye week and host a game (at least) at home (frozen tundra! storied Lambeau Field!) The last few seasons have been losing seasons, haunting me with memories of the 1970’s and 1980’s teams: 8-8 was awesome. As a result, 10-3 seems jolly good fun.

Fandom, at least on my social media feed, seems overrun with disappointed fans. The wins the last two weeks against bad teams have been “unimpressive” and the last good team the Pack played, the 49ers, punched on them like a youngling with an unresponsive touchscreen.

I am still happy. If you had told me at the start of the season, the Pack would be 10-3 and in the mix for the Super Bowl, I would have been ecstatic. With an aging, but Hall of Fame quarterback, the Packers might win a championship, but probably not. They do not seem that good, but at least they are good. Last year they were not good at all. Meanwhile, the first year head coach has won the most games as a new coach in the one hundred year history of the Packers.

Hurrah!

This attitude enrages the demanding fans. Why aren’t “we” better? It is as if our good cheer will cause the team to get soft!

The Never Enough Person

Tell somebody they are proud: probably true. Demand more holiness: almost surely needed. Suggest we could work harder, do better, be more dedicated: absolutely. Lives there a soul brave enough to say: “Well, no.”

Jesus was that brave. He prayed like no man, but He also went to parties with sinners. He knew the Scriptures as a boy better than the great teachers, but He told His own parables. Jesus was criticized for not being holy enough and He brushed off the demand, the endless demand for more. Jesus was perfect and people were not satisfied. In fact, His perfection was so inadequate to their demands for more, they crucified Him. As one great-grandfather put it: “They were so straight, they leaned a little.”

If you have known such a person, pity is the appropriate response. The Christmas tree is a bit crooked. There is a pile of work to be done. What will we do about the bills? Worry about having kids, worry about the kids, worry about the grandkids: die.

The Pitiable With Power

Combine this pitiable trait with power, however, and the harm spreads. The Boss demands more. Shouldn’t we work on Christmas Eve? We sold x, but couldn’t we have sold x+1? Were we doing our best? Sure. We made our numbers, but this is a new year.

Simple enough to say: what does it profit a Boss to gain a bit more and burn out his crew?

There is a deeper problem, however: the grinding away of all beauty, goodness, and joy mars the image of God in the Never Enough man and in all around him. His fellow workers should help, if they can, or flee if they must, because nothing will ever satisfy such a man. He demands of himself and all around him more than perfection.

All of us are given many roles: child, parent, spouse, worker, churchman, citizen, friend. We could do “better” at each of those roles if we ignored the rest. I could write more and spend more time on all I write if I ignored watching a film with the Fairest Flower.

I shan’t.

All of us can only do all we can do, the best we can, given all we have to do. This is obvious except to the Never Enough Person: Why can’t we win all our games? Not talented enough? Get better! Can’t! Drive harder! Can’t? Don’t you want to win? Why aren’t you committed one hundred percent?

The demands continue until all the joy is gone.

Or we can quit: do our duty, do our best, and give the rest to God. We can rejoice in success when we see success and hope for more if there is more. We can keep our hopes from strangling our joys by enjoying all we can.

God help us all.

Culture

Pop Culture

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

December 8, 2019

The Day After Devastation: After Pearl Harbor Kind of Day

Next Post

December 10, 2019 How to Sell Bragdon Wood: Lessons in Leadership from “That Hideous Strength”

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. I am unstable in all my ways. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A doubter An unbeliever A hypocrite A sinner

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »