Who has ears?

In the movie "Forrest Gump" there is a scene in which Lieutenant Dan played by Gary Sinise is standing in the crow's nest imploring God to increase the power of the hurricane force storm that is nearly destroying their vessel. Dan's life has not played out as he wanted and he boils over with emotion in apparent displeasure toward God. The scene undoubtedly makes reverent religious folk cringe.

Sometimes our "reverence" is a neat outer shell as we keep things like underlying anger locked away in a separate compartment and throw away the key. It seems to me that real reverence toward God is laying ourselves open before a loving God who can help us. After all God is not intimidated by our humanity. He embraces it. He affirms it. We pray and study the Bible for years to learn about God and still somehow convince ourselves that God will be disappointed or shocked if we were to fully express anger or disappointment. How can God be disappointed in you if he has no false ideas about you? He already knows all.

For my money, the trip to that crow's nest better resembles a real relationship with God than the church "back-biter" or the church gossip ever did. I think about something Jesus said; "He who has ears let him hear". Who is "hearing" in these two scenarios? Is it the one who has heard hundreds of sermons and is still the same or the one who has come to the end of himself? You already know the answer. The end of ourselves is where God really begins a work in us. As I write I can hear Forrest Gump's voice in my head saying "He made his peace with God that day." Perhaps more of us should follow the example of Lieutenant Dan - "make our peace" and get real with God.

Do we fear death?

Far from our minds in Western culture is the reality that we are mortal. It is of course human nature to avoid our mortality, and most of what we do as humans individually and as a society is to prolong its inevitable reality. We never really think about it until we experience a national tragedy or a loved one's death. Even as I write about it I feel some discomfort knowing some will consider it morbid or disrespectful as a topic of discussion. There is, however, nothing wrong with considering an inevitable truth of life. I certainly place the highest value on life as I ask this question. Do we fear death?

Many people write off the existence of God altogether based on one thing - the fact that children die. The death of a child proving that God does not exist is like the end of pepperoni production proving that pizza does not exist. Perhaps the difference in perspective concerning death between us and God is revealing. The most significant recorded acts of God concerning humans involved physical death as an act of His mercy. The physical death sentence handed to humans via Adam and Eve was to deliver them from the same "one strike" judgement experienced by the angelic realm. This was the beginning of the age of grace. The Great Flood preserved the human genome. The single greatest act of love towards humanity was the DEATH of Christ.

Human life spans were shortened (Gen 6:3) for many reasons among which were to deliver people groups from the lengthy rule of wicked leaders and to bring individuals to a relatively quick decision about their standing with God. This in effect minimizes judgement for evil. A man could have 700 years of evil to be judged or 70. Which is better? In the eyes of a merciful God, the shorter life of 70 years. Why would it be any different today?

God knows what is best for you concerning death. God is in control of your life so why live in fear? TO FEAR YOUR DEATH IS TO NOT VALUE YOUR LIFE. If Christ had valued His life over obedience to the Father, where would we be? What if Nate Saint had "valued" his life and ignored the calling of God to the Huaorani people of Ecuador? There is a big difference between "self preservation" and "living" life. Do what you know God put in your heart; LIVE your dreams.

Perhaps 2 Peter 1:3-8 is a good way to close. "His divine power has given us everything we need for LIFE and Godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, Godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of Christ." Now THAT is living.

Setting Love In Order

C. S. Lewis wrote of God “setting love in order” as THE work of God in man. It is an amazing thought. Love is considered to have 4 basic categories. In simple terms these are STORGE (affection, especially from family), PHILIA (friendship), EROS (being in love), and AGAPE (unconditional love). It is interesting to discover this very order in the good parenting that results in emotionally healthy people.

STORGE manifested in touching, holding, eye contact, along with the emotional impact of being wanted are the most basic needs of an infant up to 4 or 5 years of age. Most adults do not understand that a baby, unable to understand speech, receives instead the full emotional impact of rejection or acceptance. Infants formulate concepts before speech and perceive rejection and acceptance and yet are unable to express their fear or anxiety. To an infant a lack of STORGE is equal to being alone; and for an infant being alone is like death. Without STORGE something dies inside them.

STORGE love leads a child to the next developmental stage where they begin to formulate a healthy internal image of themselves. Healthy PHILIA is then able to exist as they interact socially. Girls, for instance, will not find themselves in need of the affirmation of a boyfriend in the back seat of a car because they have a foundation of affection from their dad. They are then able to come into EROS and handle it with a clear mind and make clear decisions about marriage (and not have a loss of control emotionally, based in a need for STORGE). And finally they are able to come into AGAPE when the feeling of falling in love has faded.

The reality of the human condition, unfortunately, leaves us more times than not growing up with these loves “out of order.” As a result, we find hundreds of ways to cope. Everything from alcohol to pornography addiction to homosexuality - we run the gamut. We know there is forgiveness and grace in Christ and at the same time we know that “repentance” is part of serving and pleasing God. If we made a sincere commitment to Christ the Holy Spirit will convict us to repent (to leave behind) of these things we have used to cope. And yet many times we can’t seem to overcome these things except in short time spans.

To come into full repentance we first must understand something about the nature of sin. Sin is mostly self-centered in nature. Coping mechanisms put self-made solutions to our needs before God’s solutions. A coping mechanism that is sexual in nature is, in a sense, cannibalism in that it uses other humans to meet a need. Self is therefore the motive and not concern for another. Other coping mechanisms like alcohol eventually isolate us or become priority over the needs of our loved ones. Again, self.

God’s will is for us to fully depend on Him and not self-produced coping. This is accomplished through God’s Word and fellowship with God through prayer and worship. Obedience to God is eventually rewarded with peace in understanding a balance between grace and repentance. God gives us grace and forgiveness for our failings on the road to repentance. God gives us wisdom through His word and our fellowship with him to understand why we self-cope.

The result of all this is that we come into a healthy relationship with God and we are able to love people with pure motive. We find ourselves operating in the basic law of God as Jesus expressed it. “Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.” And love is “set in order” in us.