Sometimes I think of my Christian walk as a sort of partnership with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's a hugely weighted-towards-God, one-sided partnership, for sure, but there are bits in there that depend upon me. I've been trying to think of a way to describe this one-sided "symbiosis" between God and those He is rescuing from destruction. I'm sure that "symbiosis" isn't quite the right word, but it's the best one that comes to mind right now.
The more people He gets to rescue, the more children He gets to love and share Himself with, and that's what He wants. He really wants to spend eternity with people who are totally unlike Him and then are so completely transformed that they conform to the image of His Son.
He's not looking for ways to keep us out of eternity with Him. Quite the contrary, He's looking for ways to bring us into eternity with Him.
His existence doesn't depend on us the way ours depends on Him. In that sense, He doesn't need us, but He very much wants us. He can live quite well without us, but He doesn't want to. His desire to love us is so extraordinarily strong that He has gone to a great deal of trouble and anguish to bring us aboard His "Love Boat".
Here's my metaphors. The problem with metaphors is that they fall apart when analyzed too deeply, so roll with me in keeping these simple.
First, imagine a man who falls into a deep pit. The rescuer drops a rope, then the man in the pit grabs the rope, putting it under his arms and around his chest. The rescuer pulls him to the surface and safety. The man in the pit has a role in his own rescue -- accepting and putting on the rope -- but beyond that, the rescuer does the real work.
Next, imagine a man getting ready to jump from a burning airplane. He puts on his parachute, jumps out into the air, then the parachute takes him safely to the ground. He has to accept that the parachute is his only hope, put on the parachute and jump, but the parachute does the real work.
Sometimes I think of this world as a gigantic, long-running play. He is the play's Producer, Director, and main character. He built the theater in which the play is running. He's also the most important person in the audience, though He's given good seats to other parts of His creation because He wants them to see His handiwork, too. We are like the play's supporting characters, in a sense partnering with the Producer, Director, and main character to make the event successful, so that when it's over, He'll say it was all worth it.
In this life, your part requires you to surrender, trust, love, and obey Him; His part is to rescue, love, forgive, and transform you. Why? The ultimate why is so that He can indulge His love for you ever more abundantly. He will be free to delight in you more and more as you are transformed to delight in Him more and more.
As I partner with Him, He needs my acquiescence and my cooperation far more than He needs my help.
He has work for us to do, but the work is always far more His than ours. That's the way He has set things up. I definitely have stuff to do, but my piece of the partnership revolves around me taking hold of His rescue, then loving Him and trusting Him, growing in love and trust as He and I move down the path He chooses, through the assignments He gives, and sooner or later into His eternity.
As you grow in love and trust, you are changed. As you are changed, you grow in love and trust.
As love, trust, and change link arms, they become more than things you do: they become things you are. The more they become things you are, the easier life flows. His way of living is no longer about harsh duties, rules, scary self-sacrifice, and regulations. He wants His way of living to be about passion.
The doing is far simpler when it flows from the essence rather than the rule.
Living a life that is pleasing to Him is far more likely when it flows from the way He is rewiring you and your passions.
Living the Christian life without passion, without trust, and without His ongoing rewiring is very, very difficult. When the passion is missing, the rules take over and grind away like rusted gears full of life's grit, producing something that only faintly resembles the beauty of Christ living in the Christian.
Again I pray, Father, don't leave any of us the way You find us now. Let our partnership become what You want it to be.
The more people He gets to rescue, the more children He gets to love and share Himself with, and that's what He wants. He really wants to spend eternity with people who are totally unlike Him and then are so completely transformed that they conform to the image of His Son.
He's not looking for ways to keep us out of eternity with Him. Quite the contrary, He's looking for ways to bring us into eternity with Him.
His existence doesn't depend on us the way ours depends on Him. In that sense, He doesn't need us, but He very much wants us. He can live quite well without us, but He doesn't want to. His desire to love us is so extraordinarily strong that He has gone to a great deal of trouble and anguish to bring us aboard His "Love Boat".
Here's my metaphors. The problem with metaphors is that they fall apart when analyzed too deeply, so roll with me in keeping these simple.
First, imagine a man who falls into a deep pit. The rescuer drops a rope, then the man in the pit grabs the rope, putting it under his arms and around his chest. The rescuer pulls him to the surface and safety. The man in the pit has a role in his own rescue -- accepting and putting on the rope -- but beyond that, the rescuer does the real work.
Next, imagine a man getting ready to jump from a burning airplane. He puts on his parachute, jumps out into the air, then the parachute takes him safely to the ground. He has to accept that the parachute is his only hope, put on the parachute and jump, but the parachute does the real work.
Sometimes I think of this world as a gigantic, long-running play. He is the play's Producer, Director, and main character. He built the theater in which the play is running. He's also the most important person in the audience, though He's given good seats to other parts of His creation because He wants them to see His handiwork, too. We are like the play's supporting characters, in a sense partnering with the Producer, Director, and main character to make the event successful, so that when it's over, He'll say it was all worth it.
In this life, your part requires you to surrender, trust, love, and obey Him; His part is to rescue, love, forgive, and transform you. Why? The ultimate why is so that He can indulge His love for you ever more abundantly. He will be free to delight in you more and more as you are transformed to delight in Him more and more.
As I partner with Him, He needs my acquiescence and my cooperation far more than He needs my help.
He has work for us to do, but the work is always far more His than ours. That's the way He has set things up. I definitely have stuff to do, but my piece of the partnership revolves around me taking hold of His rescue, then loving Him and trusting Him, growing in love and trust as He and I move down the path He chooses, through the assignments He gives, and sooner or later into His eternity.
As you grow in love and trust, you are changed. As you are changed, you grow in love and trust.
As love, trust, and change link arms, they become more than things you do: they become things you are. The more they become things you are, the easier life flows. His way of living is no longer about harsh duties, rules, scary self-sacrifice, and regulations. He wants His way of living to be about passion.
The doing is far simpler when it flows from the essence rather than the rule.
Living a life that is pleasing to Him is far more likely when it flows from the way He is rewiring you and your passions.
Living the Christian life without passion, without trust, and without His ongoing rewiring is very, very difficult. When the passion is missing, the rules take over and grind away like rusted gears full of life's grit, producing something that only faintly resembles the beauty of Christ living in the Christian.
Again I pray, Father, don't leave any of us the way You find us now. Let our partnership become what You want it to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment