"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
--John 3:16 (NASB)
Today in church I remembered C.S. Lewis's words (as Uncle Screwtape) in Screwtape Proposes a Toast, the follow-up essay to The Screwtape Letters. Here the senior devil Screwtape is addressing junior devils at the annual dinner of Tempters' Training College in Hell. He is commenting on the poorer quality of human souls, and the dearth of 'great sinners' in today's cipher-like era of democracy:
"We are tempted to say that such souls--or such residual puddles of what once was soul--are hardly worth damning. Yes, but the Enemy [God] (for whatever inscrutable and perverse reason) thought them worth trying to save. Believe me, He did. You youngsters who have not yet been on active service have no idea with what labour, with what delicate skill, each of these miserable creatures was finally captured."
I wonder, why were we worth saving? Yes, God made us in His image, but the experiment went awry. And when I look around me, I see people who couldn't give a damn about God. Did the Almighty remove his robes of glory and live as a human for this?
Some say it is love. After all, that's what John 3:16 says. But then, love for the world? That means everyone. Max Lucado once pointed out that we may be surprised by some of the people we'll see in heaven, and they may likewise be surprised to see us too. This is God's reckless love, and the way is open to all.
If we are made in God's image, why are we so stingy with our love? We tend to love only those who love us, and even then the love is often conditional; we have certain limits beyond which we are rendered incapable of loving. Why is this so?
Annette once told me that many boy-girl relationships don't work out because one (or both) parties discovers something about the other that he/she cannot stand. So Annette's advice to me was, "Ask yourself if you can say to the other person, 'I know (so-and-so) are your flaws, your faults, your weaknesses, and I don't like any of them. But I can live with them.' If you can say that, you are ready."
'Twas an inspiring sermon at church this morning. Riding on the World Cup wave, Pastor Vincent spoke on being a Fan of God. Throughout the sermon, dcTalk's phrase 'Jesus Freak' suggested itself again and again.
Pastor defined 'fanatic' as 'one who is unreasonably enthusiastic on overly zealous'. He went on to explain the Greek roots of 'enthusiasm'; it comes from the words 'en' and 'theos', which, when put together, mean 'in God' or 'inspired by God'.
Two quotations from Scripture stood out today:
I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."
--Psalm 122:1 (NASB)
and
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
--Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)
The verse from Psalms was written by David. I wonder, are we really always glad to be in God's presence? It's not a question of whether or not we like to go to church, but a question of whether we are eager to just be with God all the time, especially in today's world where the internet, phones, music, and sometimes even plain busyness, offer to keep God away. It's a question profoundly addressed by Brother Lawrence in his classic The Practice of the Presence of God.
Enthusiasm, Pastor said, is about the Spirit bubbling over to the point where we cannot contain it. Hence Jesus said, "...no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined." The 'old way' could not contain the revolution of Jesus Christ.
And so it is that if being a Jesus Freak or Fan of God means being unreasonably enthusiastic, then George Bernard Shaw's words make sense: "Progress is in the hands of unreasonable individuals." Observe a conversation between Jesus and Peter on the identity of Jesus:
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter [which means 'rock'], and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
--Matthew 16:15-20 (NIV)
Get this: Jesus calls Peter a rock, a foundation of His church. And the gates of Hades--the powers of darkness--will not overcome it. This is the same Peter to whom Jesus said the following:
"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
--Matthew 16:23 (NIV)
and
"Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?... Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
--Matthew 26:40-41 (NIV)
Peter was anything but perfect, yet God chose him and he willingly obeyed. He literally became a fisher of men, as Jesus called him to be. And so it is that I have a confession:
I used to quote the Bible and talk like a freak a long time ago. Then I realised I was a hypocrite and a phony. So I stopped. But lately I find it natural to express my thoughts with Scripture. I am far from righteous, but then Jesus calls the scum of this world to be His freaks, and I qualify! I pray that I may say, as the saints before me did, "I am not ashamed of my Lord. In life and in death I will follow after Him."
Why are we worth saving? Why does Jesus call us to be his agents of goodness and righteousness? Two questions. No answer. No problem. This is the life I choose.
Went to watch the MPO concert this afternoon. Dvořák's legendary Cello Concerto in B Minor featured a most mesmerizing performance by Daniel Müller-Schott. The encore piece he played on the cello was originally written for guitar, complete with strumming and plucking. Conducted by Thai-born Bundit Ungrangsee, the MPO also performed Bright Sheng's Fanfare and Finale from China Dreams and Schumann's Third Symphony.
I still don't know why Alice had a baseball bat last Friday, but she, Kian Ti and I decided to take advantage of it to re-enact the famous 'Bullies in V.I.' episode.
Christine said in an e-mail, "I have been discouraged with the limitations of my camera before, but as the saying goes, 'It's not about the camera, its about the photographer.' The camera is just a tool, the photographer creates the masterpiece." How true indeed...
No comments:
Post a Comment