We are all equal in eyes of God

St Mark’s Church writes 

How many A*s? How did your son or daughter do? Which uni? We’ve just gone through exam results and who got into which university and it’s made me think about the pressure our young people are under.

I’ve been remembering exam times when I was a child (they’d be SATs now of course) and I remember end-of-year exams from the age of seven. It was never pressured, although they did read class results out in reverse order for all 30 of us! It may have been because I came quite close to the top, but I think it was because we were all praised for what we did. Second off top, or bottom, as long as we did our best, that’s what mattered. Even for the poor kid that came bottom, there was always praise because they’d done their best and what more could be asked of them?

Are we turning our children into two groups – the best and the also-rans? Scripture tells us that we are all equal. Colossians 3v11 says: “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

We must always strive to do our best, of course we should. As my old headmaster used to say “only my best is good enough for me”. However, if our best is not as great as someone else’s, does it really matter? Are we any less of a person? Any less valued? No we are not, because we are all equal in God’s eyes.

At the end of time we when we stand in front of God He’s not going to care how many A*s we have or which uni we went to – what is important is what’s in our heart and that we did our best.