This is a continuation on my journey reading through “Waking the Dead” by John Eldredge. I really recommend that you read this book as well or at least read this because I’ve been silent for far too long. I hope this challenges and comforts you the way it does for me.
A really encouraging passage of Scripture is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Try reading that first line again. “Therefore we do not lose heart.” Coming from Paul, that is just absolutely incredible. Here was a man who had been beaten to an inch of death multiple times, shipwrecked at sea, mocked, abused, and all sorts of terrible things had happened to him but he said don’t lose heart? I don’t know about you, but I tend to lose heart too often sometimes. We’re just living in a time that it so full of selfishness, indulgence, and suffering that it seems overwhelming at times. Losing heart is the single most unifying quality shared by the human race.
How can we not lose heart like Paul encourages us to in this passage though? 2 Corinthians 4:18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” Great. That’s sooooooo helpful. That’s like some metaphor that sounds really cool and mystical but how in the world is that actually applicable to my life? What does that really mean? The only way we can focus on the unseen is by seeing with the eyes of our heart. Ephesians 1:18 “I pray…that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”
So the Son of the Living God comes to earth and his primary job is to communicate the truth so His precious children can be saved and He chooses to speak to us in parables. When I first thought of it that way, I was like “Really? We’re supposed to find the meanings to these random stories? Why didn’t He just tell it plain and simple?” I have grown up in the age of the Internet and I just want knowledge of the facts. It is a fact that I’m typing this right now with Tyler asleep on his bed about five feet away, only slightly snoring, and it is a fact the Civil War was fought between the years of 1861-1865. The history that we read will never truly describe the horrors of the fighting that occurred at Bull Run or Antietam though. Why don’t we understand this in relation to God? God loves you; you matter to Him. That is a fact. Why aren’t Christians the happiest people on Earth then? The fact that He loves us is in our mind, but facts don’t speak on the level that we need to hear. The facts speak to the mind, but a story speaks to the heart. For thousands of years humans have told stories as a way of communicating universal truths which is exactly why Jesus speaks in parables.
Chesterton said, “I am concerned with a certain way of looking at life, which was created in me by the fairy tales, but has since been ratified by the mere facts.” Instead of fairy tales, a better way to describe parables would be to call them myths. And this is where someone might tune me out so just listen for a second. Most people think of a myth as not being factually true. A myth is a story, like a parable, that speaks of Eternal Truths. I am in no way referring to Greek mythology but meaning a myth to be “any story that awakens your heart to the deep truths of life.” Myths transcend time because they just speak the truth. Jesus told a story about a sower who went out to sow some seed. He and his seed are far more significant than a farmer and a bag of corn. In this case, they are symbols for the Son of God and the Word. This story is a myth because it transcends times and is relevant centuries after it was written.
I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan but a fan doesn’t question the factual sense of the trilogy because that would be ridiculous to think it was true. The appeal in a myth like this lies in something deeper, in the realm of the heart. A Wheaton College professor of literature said “Myth is the name of a way of seeing, a way of knowing. They are the kind of story that wakes you up, and suddenly you say, ‘Yes, yes, this is what my life has really been about! Here is where my meaning and my destiny lie!” And we both need to start waking up because Christians have been asleep for far too long.
One common theme in myths is that things are not always what they seem. There is a whole lot more going on than what meets the eye. When Dorothy enters the land of Oz color is introduced for the first time in the movie and everything here is different, so much more than she was aware of at first. In Genesis 28, Jacob has a dream about a ladder reaching to heaven and he awakes from his dream more alive than he’s ever been in his life. He begins to realize things are more than he could have ever imagined. Genesis 28:16 “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
In Luke 24, two Christians are walking along the road back to their place after being so dejected the one they put all of their trust in had been crucified. Jesus meets up with them and begins to speak with them and he asks them why they are so depressed. Luke 24:21 “The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” They “had hoped.” I’ve hoped for many things in life and I know you have too. What is probably the coolest thing ever is that we can be hopeful because we know how this whole thing turns out. Later on in the story, Jesus chides the Christians for being “slow of heart to believe” as he reminds us of all the prophets had written. Then He broke bread and disappeared. Why would this story be included in the Bible? Maybe it was to remind us that things are not as they seem? Maybe our interpretation of events might be more than just a little off? If we start there, and with a little humility, we might just have the eyes to see the rest of the story in our lives. There is more going on here than we first imagined.
This is exactly what the Bible has been telling us all these years too, we live in two worlds. A world that we can see and one we cannot. This is why the Bible urges us to treat the unseen world even more important than the world that we live in right now. This is an important truth that we must realize, THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM. THERE IS MORE GOING ON THAN MEETS THE EYE.
Another important truth is that the world we live in now is under siege and in a desperate time. I love The Message’s version of Ephesians 5:14-16 “Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Use your Head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!” “Christianity isn’t a religion about going to Sunday school, potluck suppers, being nice, holding car washes, sending our secondhand clothes off to Mexico-as good as those things might be. This is a world at war.” We are surrounded by it and there is no doubt in my mind that every single person has a key role to play in it.
Enter Daniel, a young man originally taken hostage when Jerusalem was ransacked in 605 B.C. He becomes a counselor among the royal cabinet because he seeks out God’s guidance and God reveals to him many things. I was astonished when I heard about this particular story the first time so I had to look it up, Daniel 10. I really do recommend reading it to see what’s going on. I’ll sum it up for you though. Daniel is given a revelation of a great war that troubles him so much that he fasts and prays for 3 weeks with no food or wine until an angel of the Lord finally comes. After 21 days, an angel finally appears. Daniel 10:12-13 “….Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”
So Daniel fasted and prayed for 3 weeks with no result from God so he was most likely thinking what we think all the time. We’re either blowing it or God is holding out on me. If he lived in the 21st century, he might try confessing every sin in hopes of opening up communication with God. He might withdraw into a sort of disappointed resignation, drop the fast, and turn on the TV. He might accept this as part of “God’s will for his life” or read a book on “the silence of God.” He would also be totally WRONG. What was really going on was a war. After 21 days, an angel finally appears and tells Daniel that he’s been busy fighting a terrible enemy, someone so powerful he had to go ask Michael for help. Something that is so imperative to living a life fully alive is understanding that we are at war people. Now is the most desperate hour and the devil will try everything he can to make us ignore the fact that spiritual powers are real and things are not as they seem.
The last thing I want to mention to you in this post is that during this time, we each have a crucial role to play. Maybe you’re thinking you aren’t special. Your life is full of mostly mundane things that are just hassles. What could God possibly use me to do? In The Lord of the Rings, out of all the people who could have carried the ring into Mordor to destroy it Frodo, a hobbit of all races, was the one who did it. Joan of Arc, an illiterate farm girl, was given a vision from God and she ended up leading the French armies to war. This theme is played throughout Scripture too. A little boy slays a giant, a loudmouthed fisherman who can’t hold a job will lead the church, a whore with a golden heart performed a deed that Jesus has asked us to tell “wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world.” Mark 14:9 Things are not as they seem and we are not as we seem.
Out of everything I have told you so far, this is probably the hardest one for you to believe. Why? Because we doubt so much that we are extraordinary and we feel like we disappoint God so much. Well let me be the one to tell you, “You are not what you think you are.” There is a glory in your life that the Enemy fears and is hell-bent on destroying that glory before you act on it. Once you accept this from the bottom of your heart, everything will change. “The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.”
In a theatrical trailer for The Lord of the Rings movie, these lines flash across the screen:
Fate has chosen him.
A Fellowship will protect him.
Evil will hunt him.
This is exactly the life Christianity is trying to explain to the world. If we could believe that about our lives, and come to know that it is true, everything would change. We would be able to see what’s really going on around us, discover the task that God has called us to do, and we would find our courage. We are needed. Where is our heart? We’ll ask ourselves that in my next post as I answer this important question. If there are any questions you have or comments you would like to make, please do so. I would love to hear feedback!
In love,
Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment