"Good job"

In 2014 a movie called "Whiplash" was released. The language is king of brutal but the message is very interesting. If you didn't see it I encourage you to watch it. In the middle part of the movie there is a scene where the jazz band conductor shares his reflections on the expression "good job." In his conclusion he says that this expression destroyed America and made everybody mediocre.

I did some reflection about it by looking at the situation in the USA in the last few years. One of the things that surprised me after my arrival to the USA was the way encouragement had to be given all the time. Every kid heard this probably 10 times per hour, how good a job they were doing but in reality they just did mediocre stuff. Every turn, every word, every move was a good job. So here is the question. Why would you improve your work, game, behavior if everything you did is good?

I like this youtube job interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo0KjdDJr1c

It reflects where we are with our "good job" approach. I am always laughing when people say that my English is good. With my sense of reality I know that my english is not good and never will be, because I learned it too late and I do not have time to improve it. There is nothing wrong with a sense of reality. There is nothing wrong to say to another person that he or she in not good in sports or music or work. The more real we are then the more we can help each other.

There is one more much more deadly and dangerous effect of a "good job". It is related to the faith. So many times I heard even from the priests how wonderful we are and that everybody will go to heaven. I can just imagine the big highway from the Earth to Heaven. But is it the truth? Luke 17:10 says that we are unprofitable servants. Mark 1:15 says repent and believe in the Gospel. Ezekiel 3:19; 33:1; 18:31; Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25; 13:3; 13:5; John 8:21; 8:24; Romans 8:13 - all of those verses talk about our repentance. Apparently there is not one verse that says "good job". I wonder who is wrong in this case: God or us? Here is the mystery of our "good job": John 15:5 - "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing." So if somebody does a "good job" it is God alone. The more we have God in us then the more good work can be done by God in us.