Do you like filet mignon? I know I surely do. My husband, Jerry, does, too, but when it comes to it, he seriously likes meat. To him, it really doesn’t matter—rib eye, T-bone, sirloin, strip steak, Porterhouse. But to me, if I’m going to have a steak (because I’m really truly, most probably likely, on the verge of being a vegetarian)—so if I’m going to eat meat, I really love a melt-in-your-mouth piece of filet mignon.
In my vocabulary though, the words filet mignon are not only limited to a cut of meat. It’s a superlative, a descriptive for the crème of the crop, the over-the-top, you-can’t-beat-it, mamma mia, the best. For example, a great speech, a movie or a book that causes you to think, anything that can give you pause and a moment to reflect and savor, is like a piece of filet mignon. Especially a sermon, one that speaks to your heart, grabbing you way down deep resonating to the bottom of your soul that brings you to the brink of change, is filet mignon.
Today, my friend was telling me of a dilemma she was facing. It was not life or death, or even anything earth shattering. But her story and where she landed, made me stop… and reflect, enlarging my heart much like the Grinch’s heart in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
She’s making Christmas gifts for everyone in her office and was contemplating buying cheaper materials to make presents for the “everyday guy” and more expensive trappings for upper management. Her spoken thoughts came to a screeching halt when she said out loud, “But those guys who earn $10 per hour might need the nicer present because they can’t afford and wouldn’t necessarily buy it on their own…”
Was it going to cost her more? Maybe, but boy did that conversation reach down to the recesses of my soul when I realized I would think of giving the nicer gift to the wealthier people. Yikes! Doesn’t the Bible address this in James 2:5, 8-9?
“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?…
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (NLT)
That extra measure of love—to live outside of our selves, to go that next mile, giving beyond our circle of comfort, and for as long as it takes, turning the other cheek—Isn’t that what matters? Isn’t that the “filet mignon?” Living past the sentimentality, diving straight into the practicality of a living love.
Jesus exemplified it best when He stood in our place, taking our sin upon Himself, beyond anything we could ask or think—the extra measure of the truest, purest love.
With love,
Kimberly
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