The Folly of Survival of the Fittest

Disclaimer: I majored in Anthropology. This post is not about Darwin's theory of Natural Selection, although part of what got me thinking about the nature of humanity is inspired by my undergraduate studies. If you stumbled upon this by accident, please feel free to read on anyway.

For many of us followers of Jesus, this is a time of year when we think about the significance of Jesus' three years of ministry. Easter is coming up, and soon we'll be thinking about his death and resurrection, but right now we're thinking about the path that led up to that point. For three years, Jesus traveled around speaking, mostly getting the attention of the poor – the suffering class – by healing people. The fact that Jesus could heal people of fatal diseases, blindness, severe handicaps, even death in three cases made him well-known. Even before he would get to a town, hoards of people would gather in anticipation. Whether you believe Jesus was God in human form or not, think for a minute what it says about the character of God if God wanted to come to Earth just to spend time with the poorest, the sickest, the most despised people.

Now, let's take a look at human character in comparison. Throughout humankind's existence, we have developed this habit of competition that many have referred to as “survival of the fittest”. We compete to be the best so that we can ensure not only our own success, but the success of our descendants. It is in our nature to try to outdo one another, to be the best at...fill in the blank for yourself – at making money, being physically fit, attracting a mate of a higher status than ourselves, being good at sports, holding impressive titles and degrees. Even the most kind of human beings, have moments where they (we) feel superior for being more generous, more kind, more empathetic. (For me, one silly one is whistling. I'm an incredible whistler. I can whistle you under the table.) We all try to be better at something, at least one thing, than anyone else. And society has taught us that everyone will have at least one thing that they're are really awesome at that we can use to feel superior to those around us.

The reason that we are so attracted to this idea of being “better” at something than someone else is because we know ourselves completely. We know the most wretched parts of our own hearts, the worst things that we have done to others, the times we have made rational excuses for ignoring the starving, sick, imprisoned and despised among us when we should have been there for them instead of going to happy hour. We know how we've overlooked injustice in our neighborhoods and on other continents, making excuses for why someone else is called to respond. But the most effective way that we deal with our disappointment in ourselves for a lack of response to the needs of others is by making ourselves feel better by comparison. At least, I've done more than so and so. At least, I'm a better person than they are.

We feel comfortable competing and ranking ourselves against other people. It is in our nature to lift ourselves up, and this is why people hated Jesus enough to want him executed. Jesus turned the ranking system completely upside down. “The first will become last and the last will become first,” he said. The religious elite will be condemned. The homeless will be invited to dinner while the upper class are too good to even return the invite. And Jesus prefers to hang out with the sinner who beats his chest, crying out for forgiveness, because at least that guy's being honest with himself.

How many times this week have you tried to be good enough and been completely disappointed with the results? Or, what might be even harder to admit, how many times this week have you patted yourself on the back and sung your own praises? If I'm being completely honest, I definitely do both regularly. If you're anything like me, you swing like a pendulum between feeling unworthy on one extreme, to building up the good parts in order to forget the bad. Thankfully, God completely changed the system of evaluation with the life of Jesus.

Read it here in Ephesians 2: 1-10 (New International Version):

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

It is in our nature to compete. As a species, competition is what we know. It is how we have survived. Because of that, competition is engrained in the way that we think. We have taken competition a step further, allowing it to distract us from our own selfishness. But God, through Jesus, not only made competition unnecessary, but set up a new system where we must acknowledge that goodness, love and generosity are God given gifts that we are privileged to exercise “so that no one may boast”. There is no one alive who will live well enough to be good on their own terms, and those who claim to be are lying to themselves.

It is through God's foolishly, over-the-top compassion that we will be fulfilled and eventually renew this Earth. When we humble ourselves enough to recognize our own inadequacies, we are made whole, and we become active parts in the healing those around us, even in miraculous circumstances. We experience that miraculous healing ourselves – inside and out just by being honest with ourselves and looking to God. So, the challenge is to resist the temptation to compete and instead boast in healing, the love, and the compassion of God that renders competition useless. As Desmond Tutu put it, “[like] when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.”