With August rolling around, I tend to start thinking about back to school and applications, even though I am currently done with that part of life. It always makes me think back to a movie I saw years ago called Admissions. In the movie, Tina Fey is an admissions officer at Princeton and gets to know a senior who is not your “perfect, well-rounded, Ivy league applicant”. He has nearly perfect test scores, but failed most of his high school classes and does not have interests. However, he is a unique kid- almost a prodigy who has probably read more than some of the professors at Princeton. She does her best to paint him in a good light and give him a fair shot since he is very unlikely to be accepted to the school.
I’m not sure why I identified with the movie so much, since I was honestly on the completely opposite end of it. On one side, I was the “perfect” applicant for college. I knew all the right things to do to be well-rounded, and I did every single one of them- straight As, good test scores, president of several clubs, did sports, music, and drama- basically almost everything you could sign up for I did, and did with every piece of time and energy I could find to devote to it. I worked myself to the bone to get into a good college, and for me, somehow or another, it worked. But in spite of the fact that I made it into a good school, I can’t stop thinking about the people who didn’t. Probably because I was so close to being one of them. I was also an African American woman from a single parent family, neither of whose parents graduated from college, so I didn’t exactly have your “ideal” background.
But somehow or another, I was given a chance. There are so many who do not get that chance. Last year, for example, 32,442 applications were sent in for 11,834 chosen students at Vanderbilt, and I am forever amazed that I was given a spot years ago. Because the sad truth is, in spite of how hard you work or how much you look like the perfect applicant, sometimes the answer is still no. You still might not get accepted.
But if nothing else, here’s what I can tell you with total confidence: I was accepted by Christ. In John 15:16 Jesus says “You didn’t choose me. I chose you.” I was chosen by Christ- not waitlisted, not accidently added, not just a possibility, but whole-heartedly accepted and loved just as is. He didn’t have a list of specifications I had to perfectly complete. He didn’t have a blackmail policy- “you do this for me and I’ll think about it”. He didn’t make a last-minute switch from the deny to the accept list. He just accepted me- confused, broken, imperfect, and at times crazy obsessed, and loved me just like that, when I didn’t even like myself. He loves all of us, as is, with no exceptions and no denials. It’s a no-substitutions, exchanges, or refunds type of love. Sits patiently with open arms, waiting for the chance to show us what he really thinks of us- He love us and accepts us, just as is. All we have to do is accept him back. He doesn’t have a list of things you have to do or not do, all he has is one question- do you believe in me?
(Spoiler alert) In the movie, Tina Fey does her best to paint the applicant in a good light but, just like would probably happen in real life, he is turned down for someone who hits more of their expectations. She knows how much the student wanted to go to Princeton, so she actually cheats and changes the paperwork to get him accepted. She actually gives up her job in the process, because once the admissions team figures out what she has done, she is fired, which is a huge sacrifice on her part. But Jesus did us one much better than that- he gave up his own perfect life, just so that we would have a chance for a relationship with him. We are like the applicants who just didn’t make the cut no matter how hard we tried, but somehow or another God still wanted us. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
Just like with college applications, we have to make that actual step and say “yes we want the offer!” All we have to do is respond and we are in. No annoying expensive exams required. No perfect works and sinless life required- all that was done by Christ. And for all the things that we didn’t do to complete our perfect application, His death paid the price so that now Christians look like perfect applicants. It’s kind of an amazing deal, really. Not sure why he chose me or anyone like he did, but never endingly thankful he saw me and took the chance on me.
For whatever you are applying for or working toward right now, I hope you always remember that.
Matthew 22:14- “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
1 Thessalonians 1:4- “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.”