fiery torment of white-knuckled love

I've noticed recently just how drastically different the people living in the non-Christian world view certain things as compared to how the people living in the Christ-centered world view them. Because I'm not perfect, however, this is certainly not dead-on accurate, so I welcome your comments and/or criticism. This is essentially a comparison between the way things are, and the way they ought to and will be.

                                                           

The world seems to get caught up in a pursuit of destruction. The people who think everyone is hating them, perhaps they're hating on everyone else just as much. There seems to be so much tension, turmoil, so much twisting, and clenching of teeth. I feel there is a lot of exhaustion from holding up this image of perfection (some people call that religion). So many people seem to view life through this filter of plagued reasoning called sin.

God is making all things new. He is binding up the broken-hearted (Is. 61:1) and orchestrating everything for good. Those who are part of the body of Christ don't live in fear, or in anxiety, or in hate. While those attributes might be present in their lives, they are not the center; they do not rule. They have no crown, no throne, and they will not stand forever. All things are being remade to the way they were originally created to be: good, full of hope and joy.

                                                           

"Hot and Ready. If only marriage were like that." This is what I saw on a billboard advertising Buffalo Wild Wings carryout. "Driver carries no cash. HE'S MARRIED." A bumper sticker. The 'International symbol for marriage' (Google Image search it). There are, I'm sure, many other similar examples of how the world views marriage. I guess, somewhere down the line, people kind of missed the point. Mainly through places I've worked, and other places as well, I have noticed that a lot of the world views marriage as a contract: something that can be broken, changed, manipulated, negotiated, or destroyed; something that says, "I'll love you as long as you give me what I need."

The original purpose of marriage wasn't supposed keep people in despair. The original purpose of marriage wasn't to make people feel better about getting laid. The original purpose of marriage wasn't to take away freedom, or to have someone to grab you a beer, or make you a sandwich, or take you shopping, or to make things go your way. Marriage was created by God to be a reflection of Christ's love for the church. Let me explain that a bit... Jesus was brutally beaten, mutilated, and killed for the church (His people), so that we could have access to His Father, the giver and sustainer of life, the creator of all good things, the giver of rest, peace, joy. I believe marriage is supposed to look something more like this: "I am going to love you, no matter what, even if it kills me."

                                                           

SEX!!!    I figured I'd just throw it out there. It seems to be the latest thing these days. You know, just freely and openly throwing around the sacred gift that God has given us, which is only to be shared between a man and a woman within the bond of marriage. No big deal, right?

                                                           

John Piper writes, "I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader's Digest: a couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells...' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgement: 'Look, Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy."

I'm guilty of this as well. We spend our lives trying to accumulate so much stuff. We eventually might get what we want, place it in the palm of our hand, then slowly wrap our fingers around it. We then won't let go of it. That 'thing' becomes our god. We turn to Christ and say, "Jesus, thank you so much for saving me from eternal damnation and fiery torment. Please come into my life and change me from within. Make me a witness to your glory and honor and praise. Help me to love you and others well, and change every part of meeeeeeeeeeeeexcept THIS, holding up our white-knuckled clenched fist.
Andrew Osenga says in one of his songs, "the richest dead man's still just dead." We can gather up all the stuff we want, and it still all just fades away. Christ's love lasts forever. It never ends. It doesn't fade away, ever. The richest dead man is still just, dead.

                                                           

To conclude, things are not the way they were created to be. The world is broken, and is filled with broken people. There's good news, though: Jesus is making all things new. There will be a day where evil is destroyed, where there will be no more tears. We will be able to come to a place of rest, and of peace, and of joy, with no cost and with no price.

Until then, the secular world and the Christian world will always be at opposite ends of the spectrum. The world is going to hate us as the Body of Christ, and as the Body of Christ, we are going to reject their rejection and love them anyway.

The world is broken, but is being made new....