You Tube Theology

With disarming humor, humility and vulnerability, the Rev’d Canon Dr. John Ashley Null, shares how brokenness in his childhood not only led him to become an overachiever but also, through God’s grace, uniquely equipped him to minister to Olympic and other elite athletes.

Dr. Null provides sobering insights into the burden and cost of winning, the pain and shame of failure, the brokenness behind achievement, and the emptiness of worldly success. He follows that up with hopeful reminders of how the Gospel and God’s incredible grace and love are the answer and antidote to the burden, cost, pain, shame, brokenness, and emptiness--how God creates beauty out of brokenness.

Ashley explores how we idolize things like our gifts, talents and achievements and worldly “success” in the hope they will lift the burdens, erase the cost, remove the pain, wipe away the shame, repair the brokenness and fill the emptiness–all things only God can do. He also explains why “success” at the cost of relationships is not really “success”.

In describing the suffering of people who sacrifice a fulfilling life in the endless pursuit and maintenance of a “successful” lifestyle, Dr. Null reveals when he first realized he was on the achievement “treadmill” and shares the secret to getting off.

Using examples from his work, Null describes how the good news of the Gospel can be twisted into something toxic, such as Christian athletes who wrongly believe that failure meant they had disappointed God and people whose relationship with Jesus is wrongly based on what they can do for Him.

For all its sobering reality, Null’s talk is full of good news and hope. He shares the truth of God’s grace and unconditional love, the healthy motivation for the pursuit of excellence, and the four reasons God gives us our gifts and talents. He even offers the way to stop sinning.

Dr. Null’s talk is followed by a revealing Q&A that starts at 31:15.

For those interested in supporting Dr. Null’s work, donations can be made to the Caritas Foundation International at https://www.caritasfoundation.org/

For those interested in reading more about this topic, Dr. Null has published a new book called "Performance Identity: The Folly of Striving for God’s Approval" available at Amazon https://a.co/d/5COzITp