The kingdom of God is a kingdom of paradox, where through the ugly defeat of a cross, a holy God is utterly glorified. Victory comes through defeat; healing through brokenness; finding self through losing self.
~Charles Colson (1931-2012)
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Romans 8
Oh beloved, it is true. The world is coming apart. Death and destruction screams its angry hiss against the backdrop of starvation and war and terror and the false prosperity of materialism. To read the news is to nearly instantly wonder where the hope has gone. And the problems are bigger than that which is being reported, for only the exciting stuff makes the news.
In the span of time it takes for this fool of a writer to pen the words in this entry, some 8,000 souls will pass from this world. Many will die for no good reason, and nearly all will die not knowing the hope that comes from knowing the Blessed Hope.
And as we yawn, and look at our screens in the developed world, an even greater tragedy is unfolding. The minds and consciences of an entire generation of people who could make a difference, seem to have kicked the opportunity away that they might gorge on porn and chemicals and entertainment and fashion and lists of the 10-most whatever.
Churches have become big buildings where people go. The programs spin, and the media spills forth, but the difference between the bilge of the world and the bilge pumped forth by the emergent movement is nearly indiscernible. And as such, most would rather go away and find pure filth, because it seems more fun anyway.
Further, we have traded the identity we would most surely find in Him, and replaced this enormous reality with ideas about how we want to perform sexually and with what partners we would do it. The line between what is right and wrong has been so blurred as to be flipped on its head.
Truth is fallen in the streets. Everything we thought we learned from the Enlightenment has only led us to understand that we traded the idolatry of superstition for an even harsher false god. The rational mind, elevated to the level of deity, has only brought us to the brink of a destruction that threatens to be more destructive than some sort of fading tribal existence.
And all of this is very good news.
What?
Yeah.
At both the preamble and core of the Gospel message is a state of being that must be reached before the Gospel makes any sense and becomes the powerful force that it is.
It is written: Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who realize their need… Blessed are those who are thirsty… Blessed are those who are hungry.
However, those of us who come to this stark reality, come to find something completely unexpected. As we abandon any hope that the world can work, we can finally look to a Creator who is willing, able, and enthusiastic about meeting our every need. We suddenly, in breaking away from the false promises of the world, fall into an everlasting covenant of real Love with the One who is Love Himself.
We, like the singer says, are torn out of ourselves alive. And G_d’s fingers draw out our blood like sweat, while the magnificent facades crumble and burn that we might simply see the billion facets of His brilliant Love. We stand at the bottom of the cliff over which we have just leapt, and find before us an eternal plane of His goodness – with feet firmly planted and ready for action.
And now, fitted with real and eternal vision, everywhere we look is Hope and Him and Strength and Power and Reality. Oh, it is not that the hopelessness we were just looking at is unreal, it is just that it is so thin and pallid and short-lived. The reality of Truth and Mercy and Grace and Love and Forever forms a palette upon which the problems of the world are but a shadow of improper tinting to some of its colors.
Finally we see it. Death is in the process of being swallowed up in a victory of such enormous proportion that we feel as though we might explode with joy. We are watching death die a horrible and real death – but it is a death that will bring about its complete end. And all we need to do is to help people look away from the soon-to-be corpse in its final throes – and have them look to the One who has dealt death its defeat.
What if we simply looked away from the thing screaming that it is dying, and looked to Life Himself? Many have said that an answer like this is too simple, but i hazard it is because they have not tried it. For, anyone who has ever fully cast their gaze in His direction knows the power they instantly receive to live and move and have their being. We become filled to overflowing with a Love that is more contagious than the diseases which roam the planet.
What if we just looked to Jesus? What kind of victory might we expect in the power of His infinite Spirit? What if 100 persons tried it? 11 fools did it in the first century, and this is why we are even having the discussion today.
Tonight is your night beloved. Look to Jesus. Do it now, standing in the rubble, and see what happens. You will not be disappointed.
