So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In Him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed His offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
~paul, The Least of The Apostles, speaking Truth, and quoting Epimenides of Crete, and from Aratus’s poem “Phainomena,” in Acts 17
Oh beloved, it is true. There are things that about life that are a mystery. And there are things that are not. We, those who call ourselves Christians, really need to get these things clear in our thinking as well.
We have a life, but it is not of this world.
We have a career, but it is not for our gain.
We have a family, but not for our own fulfillment.
We have interests, but not to entertain us.
We have love, but not like the world tells us that it is.
We have doubts, but not about what He is like.
We are, as Jesus said, in this world, but not of it.
This really changes everything if we choose to really believe. For in choosing to believe the Gospel (that Jesus (G_d in the flesh) has died for our sins, brought us through this death with Him, and raised us to new Life in Himself), we are transferred from death into Life, from a lie to the Truth, and from our sins into good works. This information (yes, information) is the deepest and most important aspect of our existence.
And the beauty of all of this is that it moves us from immovable and frozen and trapped in our sin and four dimensions, to having an infinite upside to how we approach life in general. In the past, we thought that our religion was about toning down our lusts, or fighting a lie, or just being a better version of the same-old messed-up ‘me.’ However, as we come to know Him, we find that our religion is not about doing, it is about being.
We are, in fact, no longer working along some sliding scale of the flesh, trying to dress up the corrupted corpse that we were. We realize that our faith is not about things or circumstances – it is about The Truth that defines things and circumstances very reality.
So, just as a man can be married and simply try to avoid messing up his marriage (to almost no effect) by avoiding adultery or being rude or not providing, this same man could just stay head-over-heels in Love with his bride and find incredible new vistas of relationship along the way.
This fool of a writer came to understand this truth through a series of crises that ended every-thing he thought was good in his life some years ago. But my life was a life “below the line” of what a true faith in the Faithful One really is. I was hedging my bets along all three axes of life.
My truth was tinged with lies,
My worship was infected with self and remained lifeless, and
My self-motivated actions (sin) fell far short of His glory.
Can you see it? I felt so far away from G_d. But because He was a god of my own making, so that too was a lie. I was living below the line. Thankfully this was easily rectified in the death of my own belief in my own approach. All of it changed with a single decision. I chose (by His Grace), to believe G_d was exactly Who He said He was (and is, and will be).
Said more simply: I quit believing on my own, limited, fleshly and physical terms. I decided to take G_d at His Word; that He was utterly and completely trustworthy. He was not going to be the Husband Who would just avoid treating me badly. No, He was the suitor who was (and is, and will be) madly in Love with me (His delightful bride) – and that He would pursue this relationship on into eternity until we were utterly and completely in communion with each other.
And this has made all the difference. My life (and your’s can be exactly the same – if not even more amazing) has become something that is no longer about things. It is a Life that is now simply and profoundly about knowing Him; about seeking after Him. Yes, there are amazingly beautiful physical and logistical “symptoms” that are the outworking of this relationship, but they are no longer the point.
I am my Beloveds. And He is mine. And the only overarching principle in this whole situation is: Love.
So, is your life not producing what you think it should with all this religion and self-improvement you have been trying. Perhaps it is time to quit. Perhaps it is time to all G_d to draw you up above the line through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Tonight is your night beloved. Time to believe.
