"When it comes to righteousness, you are an incompetent noob, but if you'll get your eyes up, everything changes."
- Matt Chandler, Women's Redemption
Sometimes I feel like we're all living in the Lego Movie. We have conversations with everyone, and we're all fine, and life on Instagram and Facebook is awesome. #lovinglife #blessed (Presumably SnapChat, too, but I'm not cool enough to have SnapChat.)
I'm just going to immediately rip the cover off of all of that because I'm rarely ever "fine." Fine is kind of a terrible word, don't you think? There are moments where I am really happy or content or thankful. And there are moments where I am stressed out, frustrated or just generally disappointed with life.
The thing about what we've all been told about the Christian life is that we have Jesus, and that makes everything okay. If you're not happy, then you just need to "order your loves" and then you'll remember that you have lasting hope and joy and then what could you possibly have to be stressed about?
Now I have to be careful, because I really, genuinely believe that there is a lasting, solid hope and joy because of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. I believe that my relationship with God is secure, and that means there is a certain hope that the best things are still yet to come. And they are guaranteed and solid.
But here's the thing: I'm not awesome.
I'm still a sinner.
As a Christian, I took on Christ's perfect record when he saved me. However, as a Christian, I am still growing in the reality of how that spotless record works in my life, and I won't experience the fullness of that reality until I reach heaven.
I haven't had a lot of patience for myself in this, and I was lamenting to a friend about how broken I was that I couldn't just stop stressing about something because I felt like I should not stress about anything because, you know, Jesus makes everything better.
And she spoke the most comforting words to me: "Me too."
And I realized that we're all going around showing the world that we're awesome when nobody actually has it together.
So, first: stop pretending you're awesome when you're not. Stop trying to pretend it to yourself. Stop trying to project a perfect life. Not that everyone needs to know the deepest wounds of your soul, but I think we all just keep perpetuating this veneer that we have it all together when we would collectively be much better off if there was space to be imperfect.
Second: I started with the Matt Chandler quote because as I've gone through this week really wrestling with what all of this looks like, that line keeps popping into my head. I think about my stress, my brokenness, my sinfulness, my desire to have it all together, my failure to live out the reality of who I know I am in Christ.
THAT's my problem. It's all about me.
I need to get my eyes up.
Galatians 5:16 tells us that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Paul then goes on to describe a life that reflects the desires of the flesh juxtaposed against a life that reflects the desires of the Spirit. In verse 25, he reminds us that "if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step by the Spirit."
I must admit that with my strongly Bapt-"ish" background, I was a little confused on the mechanics of all this Spirit business. So I turned to Romans 8 for a little help. Verses 5 and 6 say "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
Get your eyes up.
I was having a rough day the other day. Work politics. Frustration. My ever-present struggle with the idolatry of work and success. I had gone to the gym for a boxing workout and punching stuff helped me temporarily, but then I felt it all coming back. And I sat down and dug into the commentary on John that I've been reading... and an hour later I realized that I'd just completely forgotten about all of it.
I got my eyes up.
Now not everyone will find DA Carson's commentary on John quite as riveting as I do, but there are so many other ways that we can just stop and get our eyes up. Worship. Reading the Bible. Immersing ourselves in other things that are going to grow our love for Jesus. Talking to Christian friends... not about our ever-present struggles, but about hope and grace and love.
We need to keep getting our eyes up.
I must admit that with my strongly Bapt-"ish" background, I was a little confused on the mechanics of all this Spirit business. So I turned to Romans 8 for a little help. Verses 5 and 6 say "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
Get your eyes up.
I was having a rough day the other day. Work politics. Frustration. My ever-present struggle with the idolatry of work and success. I had gone to the gym for a boxing workout and punching stuff helped me temporarily, but then I felt it all coming back. And I sat down and dug into the commentary on John that I've been reading... and an hour later I realized that I'd just completely forgotten about all of it.
I got my eyes up.
Now not everyone will find DA Carson's commentary on John quite as riveting as I do, but there are so many other ways that we can just stop and get our eyes up. Worship. Reading the Bible. Immersing ourselves in other things that are going to grow our love for Jesus. Talking to Christian friends... not about our ever-present struggles, but about hope and grace and love.
We need to keep getting our eyes up.
