You Don't Need an Award to Know You're Valued

It's funny that as the sports leagues start back up, the sports media want to start trying to forecast who will win which honors. Of course, the biggest individual trophy is always league MVP. Even in football, when they're still just in training camp, reporters already want to discuss who the likely best player will be at the *end* of the season. And, of course, some players -- even though they'll *say* that the team comes first, of course -- they are incentivized to win awards that honor the best player. But in God's Kingdom here on earth, we don't need to compete to earn God's love. We don't need to vie against our brothers and sisters in Christ to try to earn a label as "Best." Our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally, not because of some accomplishment, some achievement that is subjective as to worthy of an award. It took me until the 80th episode of my weekly "Catholic Sports Radio" show to get to it, but, we all know from the third chapter in John's gospel, verse 16, how much we are loved because it tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life." So friends, let us not live to be in competition *against* one another but to be in community *with* one another.