Trusting the Storyteller

Ya know who I really don’t want to be? I don’t want to be that annoying “movie guy” who asks a question every 5 minutes. Nobody wants to watch a movie with him because he ruins the entire experience. Every time I watch a movie with “movie guy” and he keeps asking “why would they do that” or “why did she say that,” I’m always tempted to scream at him, “hang in there, I promise the movie will explain itself. I promise the writers knew what they were doing and if you just watch the whole movie, it’ll make sense.” But he never listens…he just keeps asking.

Here’s the problem though – As I watch my life unfurl before my feet, I am that “movie guy”.

The problem with “movie guy” is that he isn’t willing to look at the story as a whole, but instead looks at small isolated events within story and freaks out when he cannot understand them. He wants and needs every second of the movie to make sense because he isn’t willing to trust the storytellers. So when something hard or confusing happens, he can’t handle it. He isn’t willing to wait and trust that the movie will explain itself, so he feels the need to ask questions every 5 minutes to attempt to understand. When we watch a movie we should trust that the story will be cohesive and makes sense as a whole even if there are confusing aspects, but “movie guy” doesn’t do that. If he is confused by a part of the story he immediately doubts the legitimacy of the story and begins to question the plot. However, while you may not be “movie guy”, we can all at least partially relate to this problem. Check out the clip I video and you'll begin to understand what I mean.

When you watch Lion King and you see Scar kill Mufasa, you’ve got begin to question the movie. That moment of the movie doesn’t make much sense – why would the good and noble king get killed by his weak and wretched brother? You love Mufasa, and you hate Scar, but Scar is the one who comes out on top. It doesn’t make any sense…until you watch the rest of the movie. The death of Mufasa never ceases to be painful, but if you watch rest of the movie you see that in the end, the story makes sense and is a good story. Simba journeys through his pain to become a noble king himself and goes back to defeat Scar. (Sorry to over analyze a Disney movie, but I’m a big Lion King fan, and I can't think of anything more awful than Mufasa's death)

I live life like “movie guy”. Every time something difficult or confusing arises in life, I quickly turn to doubt rather than trust. “Why is this happening God? Why would you do this? It doesn’t make sense. You’re supposed to be good, but this doesn’t make any sense.” But here’s the thing, God is a good storyteller, and if history is a movie, it’s a good movie (like Lion King). Even though there are hard parts to His story, it is a good story, in fact, it is a great story. Sure there are deaths, and there are bad guys, and there is pain and struggle, but doesn’t every good story have those things? We question and question and question…but God has written and is writing a good story, and while certain events are confusing and painful, in the end the story makes sense and is a really good story. The good guys win, the bad guys lose, and the journey through pain and strife is beautifully redeemed. All things are redeemed.

So let’s trust. Let’s live life as characters in God’s story trusting that He is the Great Storyteller and He knows what He is doing. This doesn’t mean we don’t grieve in trials or weep in sorrow; we do, because those hardships are real parts of the story. It doesn’t mean we should pretend pain isn’t real – because it is real. It doesn’t mean we don’t wrestle with God in confusion, plead with Him in our desperation and pray to Him in struggle. It doesn’t mean we pretend everything is “fine” or that we never get angry, frustrated, or confused. It simply means we trust. We trust, because He is the Great Storyteller. We trust, amidst the pain, the tears, the sorrow and the frustration - we trust. We trust because God is the storyteller and in the end, His story, which we are characters in, is a good story. So endure the pain with faith, enjoy the laughter with gratitude and look forward to the ending with joy.

The Romance of Christ

I’ve got to be honest with you, I think Valentines Day is kind of weird. Now many of you will simply accuse me of being a bitter single young man, but I really just find the whole day sort of bizarre. Once a year on this one day everybody must celebrate their love in a special way. Now I know its not bad because my Dad takes my Mom out for Valentine’s day, and he’s not being insincere at all – He really loves her a ton. It's just weird we institutionalized a day of love. On the flip side, I do love getting all candy that it brings, although Valentines Day is notorious for bringing out the worst candy of all time…even worse than Twizzlers. I swear those little nasty heart candies are literally be made of chalk. Sidewalk chalk.

Anyways, Valentines Day made me ponder what romantic love really is from a Christian perspective. Now seeing as I’m not married or dating, I’m probably not a very reputable person to pursue this thought process, but I did so anyways. Obviously romance is very important, since God is the creator of romantic love. The Bible is full of romantic love (Song of Solomon) and romantic stories (Ruth and Boaz). Romance is the original foundation of mankind’s interaction with one another as marriage, not cities, government or friendship, lays the groundwork for human society in Genesis. In fact, romance is so important that the passionate love Christ extends to the Body of Christ is described as the intense love found in marriage between a husband and wife. We see a beautiful picture of romance in Christ standing as the groom, and we his bride. Clearly, romance is important to God and to Christians.

Yet, I think we often miss out on what romance is. We have bought into the worlds skewed vision of romance as something that is “sexy” rather than something truly beautiful. The world’s romance is a weak and hollow shadow of the deep and mysterious love that Christ extends to the Church. If you ask somebody what it means to be romantic most will probably croon a sentence littered with the words “cute”, “sweet” and “adorable”, but few talk about sacrifice or serving. We have taken romance and “sexed” it up by dressing it in jewelry, bouquets of flowers and chocolate. Now I’ve got no problem with chocolate, but we have far too many men in the world buying lots of chocolate but failing to sacrificing everything to love their wives in radical ways for the glory of God. Buying flowers is great, but “loving your wife as Christ loved the Church” is a whole lot better. Now I’m not married and certainly don’t claim to be an expert on love, romance or relationships. I don’t know much about any of that. But I do know Jesus, and I know how He has pursued me. I know how He sacrificed EVERYTHING to love me, and serves me with radical humility. I know he shed blood that I might breath life, and I know he took a beating that I might be safe. I know he experienced incomprehensible pain simply so I wouldn’t have to. I know He died for me, so that I could live – and I think this is romance.

I know gifts are a great way to express love, and I know that nobody is perfect and able to love exactly as Christ loved. But I do think we could focus a lot more on humbly serving our loved ones. I think the image of Christ washing his disciples feet is a better image of romance than a massive boquet of roses. It’s not that roses are bad at all, I just think laying down your life is whole a lot cooler. No need to pick and choose though - buy the girl her roses, but then wash her feet and serve her with radical humility.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”

Ephesians 5:25-27

Maybe this is romance. It is strong, it is powerful, and it transforms. It refines and it sanctifies, and it brings God glory. Or maybe I’m wrong and romance is something else altogether, but I’m pretty sure it’s not chocolate, and it’s certainly not those nasty candy hearts made of chalk. Seriously, they are so bad…

Spoken Into Love

In the beginning, there was nothing. Then God spoke, and there was something. The words of God have the power to form, create and define.

God created ex nihilo - out of nothing. There was literally nothing in existence, then He spoke and creation took form. His words create. They give form and definition. They give matter and speak the essence of a thing. Light had never existed before but when God spoke it into existence it found its form, its purpose, its definition, its substance and its very essence.

Speaking creation into existence is remarkable; a beautiful miracle that clearly reveals the authority, power and creativity of our God. However, the power of God’s words to create brings us to a new level of awe when we begin to ponder the implications of what God has spoken to us.

God has called us His “Beloved” (Romans 9:25). We were enemies of God, dirty and filthy, drinking damnation upon ourselves. We were prodigals sons hiding in the shadows where we might feast and fulfill the lusts of our heart. We were lost in the wilderness, wandering aimlessly wherever our cravings led us. Yet, God did not abandon us in our wretched state, but instead God has called us His “Beloved”. He has called us Beloved, so that is what we are. That is our identity. God said “let there be light” and there was light, and so when God says “You are my Beloved”, we are his His Beloved. It’s as simple as that. His words create, they form and they define. God speaks, and it is so. So, when God calls us His Beloved, something remarkable happens. I true transformation, or recreation occurs. Though we were once enemies of God, that is no more, and we become new creations who are clean and loved. We become God’s Beloved. Not for what we do, but simply for being - it becomes our being.

God’s Beloved. This is our identity. It is our essence and it defines our purpose. We are His Beloved, his friends, his children. Our sin weighed heavy on our souls and we sunk deep into the mire, but his voice called out to us amidst the darkness and now, under this new name we become an new creation as God once again spoke the impossible into reality. With the burden of sin tied securely to our back there was no way to become lovable, but then out of the silence He spoke and we emerged as new creations. Children of God who are cleansed and loved. He has spoken, we are new.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

2 Corinthians 5:17

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I read an article by Henri Nouwen that was really encouraging in this thought process. Also check out this blog written by somebody MUCH smarter than me here.

The Wandering Man

A weathered man wandered down a dusty road heading to nowhere. Indifferent trees loomed overhead as he trudged uphill silently, and the bitter ground gnawed at his bare feet. At night, the wind would whisper in his ears, reminding him that he was alone. During the day it was even worse – it was silent.

One day the Wandering Man stumbled across a man nailed to a tree. The man simply hung there, beaten and broken, blood dripping from his mangy hair. His somber eyes were filled with fire, and a crown of thorns christened his brow.

“Who are you?” asked the Wandering Man.

“Who am I?” replied the Man of the Tree.

“I am The Forsaken Man who, for the sake of man, forsook heavenly glory to hang on a tree that dead men might live. I am the Known Unknown who knew no sin, that you might be known as a child of God. I am the Eternal Word who spoke all things into creation, then became a creation to speak grace to the saints. I am the King of filthy beggars whose dirty rags are cleansed white in my crimson blood. I am the Son of God who died for men, that men might become sons of God.”

“It was long ago that man plucked sin from that tree, so now I hang here on this tree that you might put your sin back up on a tree. Man’s debt was infinite, so infinity became finite to pay the impossible price. Man had sinned against God, so He sent the God-Man to reconcile creation to Creator. Now nail your sin to this tree, and you shall be cleansed.”

The Wandering Man heard this, pondered it for a moment, and then he replied with sorrow, “My travels have left me filthy, I cannot be cleansed. I was born of the dust, I have walked in the dirt, I have wallowed in the mud, and I will die in my filth.”

The Man of the Tree replied, “Your wretchedness runs deep, but my blood runs deeper still, and now in your death you will find life, and in your life you will find breath. I came to be sin for the unholy, that sinners might be holy. I have tipped this world upside down; the lost are found, the blind can see, the dirty are cleansed, and those who kneel will be exalted.”

“I have become your unrighteousness, now go, O man, and be righteous. Put your sin back up on this tree, and wander no more.”

Learning from Wishing

When I was 8 my Christmas wish-list was littered with Lego’s, Nerf Guns and a Nintendo, though I knew my mom would never get me one. This year, my wish list consisted mostly of books, CD’s and a movie I really wanted. Clearly things have changed. It’s been interesting to reflect on the different types of things I’ve asked for over the years, and so, for your convenience, I’ve broken down the different wish-list era’s many of us went through over the past 20 years:

The Oblivious Era (0-2 Yrs) – You were a baby, and thus, you didn’t know anything. You just took whatever you were given, probably tried to eat it and certainly slobbered all over it.

The Golden Era (3-11 Yrs) – These were the golden years of wish-listing. You would scan the Lego magazine and Toys’R’Us catalogue, marking your favorite item on every page. Your list was full of fantastic toys even if you knew there was no chance of getting them. Every so often scary things like Furbie’s would sneak onto your list, but overall, this was the highlight of your wish-listing career.

The Confused Era (12-15 Yrs) – This was an odd time in the wish list era. You were still young enough that you wanted to ask for Lego’s and Nerf Guns, but unfortunately, you also falsely believed you were too cool for these fantastic toys, and thus were ashamed to ask for them. So instead, you asked for boring thing.

The Awkward Era (Could come any time, but usually around 13) - Beginning to realize how weird and awkward you were, you did your best to hide this reality by proving you were actually very “cool”. This means you asked for “cool” clothes that were actually funny looking, and music that nobody really liked but everybody listened too.

The Practical (Lame) Era (16 -20 Yrs) – Rather than trying to prove how “cool” you were, you now began to pride yourself on being “mature”. This means your list was absent of anything fun, and filled with practical things such as a new dress shirt or a pair of running shoes. Totally necessary…but also pretty boring.

The Redeemed Era (21-? Yrs) – You’ve now realized you’re neither cool or mature. In fact, you really are pretty awkward…but that’s ok because everybody else is too. You’re growing more “ok” with who you are, and you’re figuring out what you really do like. So once again, your list is full of things you really enjoy like books or music. It’s a good list.

While this list is exaggerated and silly, I do think we can learn something from it. I am now 22 years old, fresh out of the Practical Years, and I’m proud to say my list had no clothes, toothpaste or gas cards. Sure, it still looks a lot different from those fanciful wish lists from when I was 9, but then again 22 year old Kyle looks a lot different than 9 year old Kyle. By God’s grace I’ve grown over the years, and I’m no longer so worried about trying to prove how “cool” or “mature” I am. Instead, I’m now facing the difficult task of simply learning to be Kyle, and, more importantly, learning to appreciate being Kyle. I’m trying to figure out who I am in Christ and learning to appreciate, and even love, who God has made me to be.

Constantly changing and growing, it turns out this silly list epitomizes life, as we ourselves undergo constant change and growth. As the years pass, we change, but the beauty of life is that we do not experience this growth alone. As I look back on the growth I’ve experienced, I am encouraged to see that God has actively been working in my life every step of the way. He is near, and He cares. The most profound truth in all of reality is that God loves us, yet sadly, this truth is so incomprehensible that many people struggle to truly believe it. This is where reflecting on our past becomes an incredible tool because in the clarity of hindsight God’s love becomes more recognizable as we see God graciously working in our lives.

As Christians, we must hate sin, because God hates sin. Sadly, in an attempt to hate our sin many of us begin to hate ourselves, but in this we underestimate the power of the Cross. We must remember that in Christ we are reborn, creatures of the Spirit, children of the Light.

In our sin we wadded deep into the mire, and it’s difficult to believe that God could love creatures of such filth. Yet, those in Christ are no longer drowning under the weight of sin because our lives are now hid “with Christ one high”. So as you look back on old wish lists and reflect on the growth you’ve experienced over the years, thank the Lord. Thank Him for His faithfulness in the past, His sanctification to come in the future, and His grace encompassing all. Thank Him for saving you, for cleansing you and for loving you.

Now begin enjoying Him.

Serving to Death

Good leaders serve. They do so, not to gain recognition or to be praised by their peers, but simply for the sake of serving and loving their followers. As Christians, when we lead we should serve and love because Christ first served and loved us. However, this idea of servant leadership is radically different than what we usually see in the world.

We see leaders who seek the limelight, yet Christ performed miracles and told people to keep quite. We hear leaders who say only what pleases the masses, yet Christ offended so many people that they crucified him. We have leaders who seek their own gain, yet Christ came and served until they killed him. We watch leaders operate by striking fear into the hearts of the people, yet Christ came and loved people. To become a great leader, we must not pursue charisma, power or popularity, we must seek humility. As we humble ourselves, as we lower ourselves, we will rise to be great leaders who lead people to a place where they can see Jesus more clearly. We lead, not to be powerful or likeable, but to bring people to a place where they can see the beauty of the Cross and wonder of God’s grace. We must lead like Christ.

He humbled himself to the point of death, as a way to lead people into life. The Great Shepherd lowered himself to become a lamb to be sacrificed for our redemption, and in His blood we are clean. He leads us to God’s grace by serving us, and we must lead in a similar manner that others who are lost in their sin may come to know His grace.

The Gospel of the Ungrateful

This is the Gospel.

All humanity is born into sin. The simple act of our birth earns us damnation. We are ungrateful creatures, scorning our Holy Father for the fleeting pleasures of earth. Bent on doing evil and lovers of sin, we wander through the darkness drunk on depravity, too blind to even understand our wretched state. We are born into our death, wallowing in our own filth, unable to pickourselves up or clean ourselves off.

And God saw us in this offensive state, yet He did not abandon us. We were his enemies, doing the very things he hates as we sinned. We were vessels of wrath, spitting on our creator, assuming we did not need our Heavenly Father.

Yet He did not abandon us.

He saw us, and though He hated the sin we reveled in, He loved us. He wanted us to have the opportunity to be with Him, but in our dirty and depraved state we could not come near His Holy nature. As a good and perfect judge, He had to punish our sin and pour out His wrath on that sin. Man had to pay for their iniquity.

Yet even still, He loved us.

He had to punish our sin; yet he loved us so much that paradox became reality as God became man to atone for our sin. Man had to pay, so Jesus became man, taking on flesh, that he might be a sacrificial offering in our place. He came, and as He died on the cross He absorbed all the wrath that the history of humanity, past, present and future, had earned. The Father poured out every bit of wrath on Jesus until His wrath was completely satisfied. Jesus paid it all. He drank the cup of wrath to the bottom till not a drop was left.

He saved us from our sin.

There is now no condemnation for those who repent and put their faith in Christ. For those who trust in Jesus, not only is the Father’s wrath towards them satisfied, but they are also wrapped in the righteousness of Christ. So now, the gracious Father on high looks at the believer and sees him as clean and righteous. There is no impending wrath for those who accept Christ, and the Father does not see us as filthy sinners, but instead as righteous sons because Christ was righteous. This is the gift of grace that God offers us, and all we must do is leave our sinful past behind, put our faith and trust in Christ alone, and live to love God. We trade our awful, depraved lives for ones of purpose and joy, and trade our eternal damnation for eternal life.

This is the Gospel.

It is radical. It is mind-numbing, earth shattering and life-altering. It is totally undeserved, utterly transformative and completely insane. Seriously, it is absurd that God loves us and saves us. But He really truly does. However, too often the Gospel does not amaze us. For many of us who have grown up in the church, like myself, the Gospel has become very normal. We think of it and are unimpressed, and thus ungrateful. It become an obvious reality to us and we think to ourselves, “of course God died for us, what else would he do”. We hear that "in Christ you have been saved from eternal damnation", and we do not get excited. That is wrong. In our minds it becomes the status-quo and the way things “should be”, and thus we even go so far as to believe we deserve the grace of the Gospel. But we do not, and we must fight this complacent idea that the Gospel is normal and unimpressive.

We do not deserve grace, and we should wake up every morning utterly in awe of the fact that God has saved us by grace and adopted us as His sons. Think about it. Really think about the Gospel. Ponder it, wonder at it, revel in it, marvel your way through it. It is insane what God did for us, so lets begin to find more joy in that incredible gift.

This is the Gospel. It is absurd, but it is true. It is amazing.

Hearing Love

What if we listened?

What if we really, actually listened to one another? I’m not talking about simply hearing the words that our friends speak. No, I’m talking about something much more intimate and much more difficult. I’m talking about listening to our friends and using our ears to peer into their heart to see their well-being that we might love them better. To really know our friends.

Many of your friends are hurting, some are lonely, and most are anxious. Some are experiencing great joy, others intense sorrow, and some are even wrestling with deep depression.Some are struggling to cope with the busyness of life, while others are so confused about life that they are utterly paralyzed and simply do nothing.

What if we began to listen to these people. What if we started seeking to know them deeply, and to care for them based on how they are doing. What if I stopped living a life focused on myself, and began to focus on the needs of my friends. What if I stopped treating people based on how I “feel” like treating them, and began to take time to understand who they are, and how they are doing, and then using that knowledge to love them excellently.

What if we really listened? Well , to put it simply: if we begin to listen better, we will love better. And if we begin to love better, we will serve God better. Thus, we must become better listeners. Because if we do not know what is going on in their life or their heart, how can we love them well? To love a friend when they are in a time of grief is very different from loving a friend in a time of joy.

Unfortunately, the honest truth is that most of us are very self-centered. Even the most virtuous man struggles to listen well that he might know and love others around him. But that is what we must do. That is our calling. That is what Christ did.

We must gauge out our old perspective and adopt the vision of Christ. We must die to ourselves so that Christ can resurrect our hearts to be enabled to genuinely love the world. We must partner with the Holy Spirit, and pray with fervor, that we might be empowered to take our eyes off ourselves to know and love those around us. This is what happened to the St. Paul. He was literally blinded by Christ, and when he regained vision, he no longer saw the world as a hypocritical, self-righteouss Pharisee. He no longer focused on himself because in comparison to serving God, anything we do to serve ourselves is rubbish.

Here we encounter a paradox of life. In our depraved minds, it seems that focusing on ourselves will ensure a life of success and happiness, while focusing on others will lead to an empty life. However, in Christ, we live in an upside down kingdom where things don’t always make sense because, in reality, the life of pride leaves a man empty, unhappy and unfulfilled, while a life of love and sacrafice brings purpose, satisfaction and intense joy. So let us seek to adopt the vision of Christ, and let us plead with God for a new perspective in life so that we can truly know and love our brothers and sisters around us.