If the window to your soul is really open, deep and wide,
then you won't mind Me looking in, you'll let Me seek and find
You'll let me probe around a while,
You'll give me room to breath;
You'll let me settle in somewhere
you'll let me come and live
I only take what you will give.
I only come when you're open;
I only destroy so that I can rebuild.
I can only fix what is broken.
copyright 2009 Kara Tindor
10.24.2009
10.07.2009
:: go ahead, get lost. ::
Imagine with me, for just a moment, that the human being was capable of being successfully self-sufficient on this earth (we have to imagine it, because it really is impossible. If you don't believe me...then you're not going to get anything out of this).
Ok. Get this picture in your mind of people who can "do it" themselves. They can find happiness in the pursuit fame, fortune, and money. They can, on their own, have a stable life and love people deeply. They can work hard, be kind, be "good" (quotes there because, as Jesus says, "who is good but God?") people, raise children to be productive members of society, etc., and add to that list whatever you deem necessary to say that a person has had a successful life. The clincher to this is that you must imagine that people can do this on their own, apart from life with God; they don't need drugs, they don't need others, they don't need alcohol, they certainly don't need a god, religion, rules, or even society to keep them straight. They are completely self-made.
Got it? Good. Imagine that person dying, never having had communion with God on this earth, never having "needed" God because he/she was self-sufficient, and now facing the God of the universe to give an account for their life. What will they have to say? Will their earthly self-sufficiency warrant any reward in the kingdom? Will they really have gained anything? If they did not "need," then they never would have believed in a need for salvation, and subsequently, they never would have believed in Christ. So at this point, our imaginary friend is coming to realize that, for all their self-sufficiency, salvation is one thing they couldn't provide for themselves, and now it's too late.
Ok. You can exit your hypothetical, imaginary situation. I think this is part of Jesus' point when He challenges us with: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16.26) Because in the end, that man has gained nothing. What he thought was of value is actually of no value in the truest reality, the kingdom of God. "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16.24-25) The principle here is that those who preoccupy themselves with 'saving' their lives (providing for themselves, accumulating for themselves, establishing themselves, etc.) are actually throwing their true lives to the wind, but that the smart people are the people who get lost.
Very counter-intuitive. I, the prideful, self-sufficient-wanna-be that I am, HATE to be lost. It gives rise to this feeling of inner, urgent panic and it must be satiated with being "found" as quickly as possible. If it's that bad in the geographical sense of being lost, how much more strange does it sound when Jesus tells us that we must lose our lives before Him, in the spiritual sense? That we have to stop trying to "make it" on our own, apart from Him. That we must stop striving, and trust Him. That we must have the most simple faith ... faith like a child.
You see, in all of our supposed self-sufficiency, and with all of the value that our society places on being self-made and stable, and thinking of all of the praise we give to those who are able to "accomplish" this in their lives: we're doing ourselves no favor by believing this lie. We're doing the world a disservice by celebrating the "whitewashed tombstones" of people (or ourselves) who seem to have it all together in life.
NOT POSSIBLE. You can't have it all together in life. No one does. No one ever has, except Jesus. So stop trying. Go ahead, get lost.
Ok. Get this picture in your mind of people who can "do it" themselves. They can find happiness in the pursuit fame, fortune, and money. They can, on their own, have a stable life and love people deeply. They can work hard, be kind, be "good" (quotes there because, as Jesus says, "who is good but God?") people, raise children to be productive members of society, etc., and add to that list whatever you deem necessary to say that a person has had a successful life. The clincher to this is that you must imagine that people can do this on their own, apart from life with God; they don't need drugs, they don't need others, they don't need alcohol, they certainly don't need a god, religion, rules, or even society to keep them straight. They are completely self-made.
Got it? Good. Imagine that person dying, never having had communion with God on this earth, never having "needed" God because he/she was self-sufficient, and now facing the God of the universe to give an account for their life. What will they have to say? Will their earthly self-sufficiency warrant any reward in the kingdom? Will they really have gained anything? If they did not "need," then they never would have believed in a need for salvation, and subsequently, they never would have believed in Christ. So at this point, our imaginary friend is coming to realize that, for all their self-sufficiency, salvation is one thing they couldn't provide for themselves, and now it's too late.
Ok. You can exit your hypothetical, imaginary situation. I think this is part of Jesus' point when He challenges us with: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16.26) Because in the end, that man has gained nothing. What he thought was of value is actually of no value in the truest reality, the kingdom of God. "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16.24-25) The principle here is that those who preoccupy themselves with 'saving' their lives (providing for themselves, accumulating for themselves, establishing themselves, etc.) are actually throwing their true lives to the wind, but that the smart people are the people who get lost.
Very counter-intuitive. I, the prideful, self-sufficient-wanna-be that I am, HATE to be lost. It gives rise to this feeling of inner, urgent panic and it must be satiated with being "found" as quickly as possible. If it's that bad in the geographical sense of being lost, how much more strange does it sound when Jesus tells us that we must lose our lives before Him, in the spiritual sense? That we have to stop trying to "make it" on our own, apart from Him. That we must stop striving, and trust Him. That we must have the most simple faith ... faith like a child.
You see, in all of our supposed self-sufficiency, and with all of the value that our society places on being self-made and stable, and thinking of all of the praise we give to those who are able to "accomplish" this in their lives: we're doing ourselves no favor by believing this lie. We're doing the world a disservice by celebrating the "whitewashed tombstones" of people (or ourselves) who seem to have it all together in life.
NOT POSSIBLE. You can't have it all together in life. No one does. No one ever has, except Jesus. So stop trying. Go ahead, get lost.
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