Input vs. Outcome

Results don’t lie, what a brutal proverb. In this day and age we have a unique ability and a strange obsession with measuring things. Financial results, stock performance, athletic performance, web traffic, school grades…we even measure and rate art (ridiculous). I agree that in many of our personal and professional endeavors, measurement helps us meet targeted objectives and be better at whatever it is we do. Results and measurement are a huge part of what drives our capitalist society (note word choice: society not economy), quantifying financial performance of a company tells us where we should invest, quantifying test scores in school indicates how well we studied. The problem is so much of our western world has become blinded by the quantification of risks and rewards that we threaten to reduce everything spiritual, relational, and personal down to some value oriented equation. We expend tremendous energy assessing where we can extract value from our lives; we calculate our return on investment and adjust our investment strategy accordingly. We are greedy people, me and my generation especially, and our only concern often appears to be maximizing what we GET.

Our measurement or benchmarking culture helps us know where we GET the most. However while results don’t lie, they can deceive.

What we fail to consider is that many of the things that we should be investing in, are very high risk, and often stand to yield no return. You can plug in factors to an equation to try to calculate what it is you can get out of any given relationship or situation, but you’ll get the wrong result every time. If we care at all about each other, and if we care at all about Christ’s work, about loving people, about changing those around us through love, we need to shift focus. We need to rethink the system we use to view the world, to view each other, and to quantify our means to get value out of things…instead of being oriented around the outcome of a situation, we must learn to be input oriented.

Let’s take the example of relationships, when you really weigh the risk/reward of loving someone it simply doesn’t stack up. Love is simply not an equitable transaction, when you consider all that you risk by loving someone it is a truly risky prospect. We make ourselves open to rejection, abuse, disappointment, not to mention a whole myriad of other frightening things that we subjugate ourselves to when we love others. Does being loved in return merit the risk of the endeavor of loving? The answer is, it doesn’t matter. We are to love no matter what, simply and purely, its Biblical, it’s the Jesus model for relationships, it’s a mandate not an option. Love doesn’t fit the equation.

Love, Grace, and the very nature of God are beyond calculation. It is incalculable the measures by which he loves us and the lengths he has gone through to redeem us. I’m pretty sure if we wanted a fair system that added up, we’d all be unfit to be loved, and we’d all be damned. The vast depths of our depravity, can only be overcome by the infinite span of God’s love.

God’s grace and love defy math. We are not loved because of an equation, we are loved because God chooses to love us, its his very nature.

When we shift focus to our input, none of the other stuff matters, performance becomes a moot point…we give God our best, we give him our everything regardless of how that feels…and most importantly regardless of what the outcome might look like. Being input orientated keeps us engaged in the action of giving, its keeps us investing, it invites God into our actions, and asks him to do whatever he ever he wills with whatever parts of our day-to-day lives he wants. While the shift from outcome to input is scary and leaves us constantly uncertain, it properly aligns our definition of value with God’s…that definition is: God defines value, not us. When we embrace this concept, we stop looking for ways to GET the most our of life, and we start looking for ways to GIVE the most.

A tremendous amount of tension is caused by wanting to get something OUT of any particular situation, as opposed to contribute something INto a situation. Next time you are in a meeting or in a group setting (professional or otherwise), pay attention to how much effort and fighting takes place…we fight for attention, we fight to be correct, we fight to be heard, we fight, we fight, we fight. The natural human reaction is to fend for ourselves and to get what is ours…unfortunately it is the American way. When we instead walk into a room giving attention, validating others, listing, giving, giving, giving…our hearts are completely changed and social dynamics are revolutionized.

When you give anything (time, money, love, attention, etc) and you do so willingly, your heart will be changed, by letting go of things and giving them away you contain the natural urge to horde and alleviate the relational stress of the aforementioned struggle of inter-relational combat. Giving means we rewrite the rules, it means we choose to play a different game.

Part of discipleship to Christ means not only do we constantly give, invest, and plant seeds, but it also means we expect nothing. Instead of recognizing only the shining celebrating our successes, the way we live life in community changes, life itself becomes a celebration. We do all we do as an act of love. We go to work, we have community dinners, we are spouses, we are employees, we are friends, we are citizens, we are leaders…we are all we are, and we do all we do because we love God. Outcome becomes irrelevant, instead the input, or what we invest in to people, places, and things in our world becomes an outpouring of love and a constant act of worship. We invest not because it’s safe or because there may be a good return, we invest because we have something to give. We take what God has so graciously given us, and we give it all away.

Our concept of failure transforms.

A while back one of my roommates and I wanted to lay low for an evening, and watch a movie. We were hoping for something mindless and lighthearted, so we picked up Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons”. As the movie credits rolled we turned to each other with drop-jawed expressions, astonished at the depth, and spiritual magnitude of the message of the movie. One scene in particular made me well up with emotion. The story is about a struggling young inventor who also happens to be an orphan. Through a series of events, the main character ends up in the future with an eccentric family who welcomes him into their home…

As the family sits down for dinner, one of the futuristic gadgets, a peanut butter and jelly making machine malfunctions, and the young inventor is asked to help save the day. The family watches anxiously as the young boy tampers and tweaks with the machine. As he pulls the trigger to test his work, what happens? TOTAL FAILURE, peanut butter and jelly go flying, total disaster.

The family sits quietly for a moment, and as the awkward silence builds, they erupt into cheers for their young inventor, proclaiming “What a glorious failure!!!”

When we change our focus to what we contribute into a situation, we live life on the edge. We go all in on life, we play with the chips on the table, cards up, it is risky as hell sometimes but the best we can do is try our best. I know this sounds like something you’d hear from a little league coach, but it’s so true. Sometimes we have glorious failures, but God works in our moments of triumph and tragedy.

The scariest thing in life isn’t failing, its giving it your best. Being completely sold out, diving in head first, holding nothing back…that is scary. When we love Christ and we love each other we must be in the act of celebrating the effort (the input), the act of risking failure, the act of being sold out, not the act accomplishment (what is accomplishment anyways?). When we do so grace abounds, and we love at all costs, not just when the costs the make sense.

Add it up,
CP