Let it Go

William Borden (1887-1913) epitaph: "Apart from faith in Christ there is no explanation for such a life."

Let it Go. This seems to be the theme of the week for me.

It started with the CD my dad got me for Christmas. The poor guy bought me Inception, not knowing that I had already gotten it for myself. As we were browsing through my parents' local Christian bookstore, I found the new LeCrae CD on one of the racks, and he gamely asked if he could give it to me for Christmas. Of course, I agreed.

It has been a huge encouragement already. The lyrics are saturated with scripture, and the beats are incredibly catchy. Hip-hop has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. It's refreshing to have some that's not embarrassing to play.

Anyway, the theme of the album is: "Let it Go" (money, cars, fame, ego, control, addiction, etc.). Just let it all go. Reminds me of Mark 8:35-37:

³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷ Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

I'm struck with how tightly I've been hanging on. The suburbs are designed with this idea in mind. Houses are built in safely tucked-away neighborhoods. Cars take us conveniently from place to place without having to interact with strangers. Every need is immediately met. If I'm uncomfortable in the slightest, I can immediately get rid of that discomfort by retreating or sleeping or turning up the heat or eating a snack or watching TV or reading a book or seeing a movie.

My reason for mentioning all of this is not to knock the suburbs. I believe the suburbs are a blessing. Life is good and friendships are rich and full. It's a lifestyle that can feel heavenly at times. Just as city or rural life comes with unique temptations and struggles the suburbs have unique temptations and struggles. Each are just places. 

I think the danger comes with the natural impulse to hang-on to these things. We are strangers here, and we can't forget that. We can't have treasure here and in heaven, seek comfort at all costs, neglect our neighbor, be self-sufficient (or self-centered) ... pick your facet. It all comes down to the fact that we are travelers, just passing through. Beyond this, we have been given an assignment by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and a finite amount of time to complete it. We are actors in His play, written to bring Him glory. We are His image bearers in this dark world. When we forget that, people get hurt.


Gandhi is rumored to have said: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." This is a loaded statement and much could be said in response (that's why we worship Christ and not Christians, there are may Christians who do live as Christ did, etc.), but I think it gets at a deeply felt need that non-Christians have to witness authenticity. If you want me to believe what you say, you need to back it up with what you do.


In Revelation 2 & 3, Jesus gives loving warnings to the first century churches that they need to remember their first love and stop being lukewarm. I've been thinking about that message a lot. It means something different for each of us. We need to be diligent and aware for opportunities to shake-up our dead patterns and empty religious rituals and live lives defined by the gospel.


As Dr. Litfin used to say: "Crown time will come, but now is cross time. You can't do everything, but you can do something."


Amen.

The '20 Obsolete Words that Should Make a Comeback' Dare

When I sent this link (http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-obsolete-english-words-that-should-make-a-comeback/) to a coworker he challenged me to use all 20 words in a sentence. This is what I came up with:

"During his Friday twitter-light brannigan, the ludibrious jollux, a little bibesy after deliciating over his drink about as much as sanguinolent man at war, spotted an illecebrous woman at an adjoining table and tried to corrade his thoughts from his widdendream, but they came out a bit jargogled and perissologious, so he began a quagswagging freck instead; causing even the most malagrugrous brabblers at the surrounding tables to kench and exclaim, “Take a look at that yemeles hoddypeak over there!” and inciting a journalist from the local newspaper to much scriptitation."

For fun, see if you can come up with another sentence using these 20 awesome words.

Restoration and Incarnation

Lately, I've been thinking about the idea of restoration; specifically, as it relates to the work of Christ.

My small group has been going through the book of John for the past semester, and it has been a very insightful trip through a book I have come to love. This time through, I've been struck by the way that Jesus works to restore people.

This is most obvious in his miracles and his discussions. One minute he's giving sight to a man who has never seen. Another, he's raising a good friend from the dead. One minute, he's chatting with a pharisee about spiritual rebirth, the next with a Samaritan woman about living water. Throughout the book, he presents himself as the solution. He makes all kinds of "I am" statements (I am ... Word, bread of life, living water, God's son, the resurrection and life, the vine, etc.) which tie him to God the Father and present him as the ultimate solution for which everyone has been waiting.

But there is something more subtle afoot here.

"What is the meaning of life?" is a question that everyone asks, and that we've been asking ever since the garden. Chris McGarvey, my former college pastor, put the answer this way: We are meant to be reflectors. God built deeply into our DNA an aching longing to be a reflection of greatness.  Talk to anyone for 20 minutes, and this is immediately obvious.

The problem is, we've set the bar too low. Lucifer was the first one to do this. Isaiah 14 is terribly tragic:

12 How you have fallen from heaven,

morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

13 You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,

to the depths of the pit.

We followed suit by deciding to reflect ourselves. God had designed us, in His own image, to be the crowning jewel of His creation: creatures who could think, and feel, and relate, and speak, and worship like no other being ever created. He made us truly great. We turned our vibrantly lit, blazing mirrors around toward ourselves and the light went out.

Ever since then, we've been stacking stones, trying to get to heaven, or wallowing in the mud, looking for someone who will think we are something special.

And that's where Jesus comes in.

Contrast the above passage with this one from Philippians 2:

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Mirror images, right? Jesus became a man and a perfect man at that. He was the image of God that reflected God's glory perfectly. Jesus restored more than just physical and intellectual wholeness. He gave us our purpose and significance back. He healed the broken mirrors that we are, and mended God's image within us.

Now our failures are always tempered by an undying hope. We don't have to find significance in being perfect, or looking perfect, or winning a championship, or becoming the best in our field, or supporting our families, or being a faithful friend, or anything else. God just wants us to love and reflect Himself. That's it. He's already done the rest.