Weekly Brain Food 2

Stuff from this week, fave parts quoted below: 

• “If God answered all your prayers, would anyone’s life but yours be any different? . . . It’s hard to wallow in self-pity about the size of your own platform if you’re busy building someone else’s.” Read more here.

• Read Achieve or Die: Reflections on ‘Free Solo’. 

This second article talks about Alex Honnold's attempt to become the first man to free solo El Capitan, a 3,000-foot precipice. The author reflects after watching the film documenting the feat.

"It’s painful to watch a man who stupefies us with his climbing career struggle to relate to those who love him—even to the point of viewing relationships as a distraction from climbing. But while we might lament Honnold’s childhood and even empathize with his relational difficulties, we leave the theater more moved by his achievement than troubled by his personal life.

Our performance culture gives us permission to clap and cheer for this man’s self-described pursuit of perfection, even while his relationships suffer as collateral damage. 

What do we make, though, of Honnold’s casual approach to death as a likely outcome of his ambitious goals? This is, of course, part of what makes the story so spellbinding. God knits into human DNA the value of dying to self for a greater cause, and we see this especially in Jesus—the perfect human—whose willingness to obey his Father and die for his friends (John 15:13) provides the ultimate example of sacrificial love. In a hyper-achievement culture, it’s so easy to prioritize passions while relationships suffer. This is especially true when others celebrate what we do more than who we are. When we find our personal obsessions are hindering our capacity to love and be loved, however, we must die to ourselves and choose love over achievement.

Alex Honnold achieved something no one dreamed possible, and Free Solo is an inspiring, thought-provoking reflection on this accomplishment. But at what cost? Is the most jaw-dropping achievement in the world worth it if we become less human in the process of achieving it? What mountain are you climbing in life, and is reaching the summit worth whatever sacrifices it’s taking to get there? Are you sacrificing yourself for others, or others for yourself? What, in the end, are you willing to die for?

For the Christian, the gospel of Jesus Christ provides a decisive answer. Only Jesus is finally worth living and dying for (Phil. 3:1–11). As we pick up our crosses daily and die to ourselves, we will ironically find that, in that sacrifice alone, we truly live (Matt. 16:24–26).

But while Free Solo touches on the freedom and joy that come from a willingness to sacrifice comfort for a greater goal, it misses the mark of actual flourishing. The achievement is not others-centered. Honnold is willing to sacrifice his life not for others, but for himself and his own fame.