In the words of Jesus:
"Look, you guys are running around like monkeys trying to get people to clap, but people are fallen, they are separated from God, so they have no idea what is good or bad, worthy to be judged or set free, beautiful or ugly to begin with. Why not get your glory from God? Why not accept your feelings of redemption because of His pleasure in you, not the fickle and empty favor of man? And only then will you know who you are, and only then will you have true, uninhibited relationships with others."
Yes, Jesus really did say this, word for word-- especially the Monkey part. There most definitely were monkeys in Israel.
True or False: The purpose of life is to glorify God.
Yes? No?
I'm not really sure anymore. I was brought up being told this was true, and all the while i really did believe it, and I really did want to glorify God with who I was. I didn't really know what that entailed... what exactly did Glorify mean? Who exactly is God? What happens when we didn't glorify God? Were we sent to Hell? Or were we just sent on a guilt trip until we got over it and then just tried harder, only to fail again and feel the guilt again, knowing that we didn't 'meet up to God's standards of holiness' in glorifying God. (I'm not sure if that sentence should end in a question mark). ..... ?
For the sake of this blog, I will go along with this idea, though I don't really know what it means.
Have you ever thought of this: The very best way to Glorify God is to get your glory from God.
...
?
Hello, Hurricane. You're not enough.
Hello, Hurricane. You can't silence my love...
Sorry. I didn't really know what to write in that moment of time, and the music was just so good, and I really like those lyrics, so I just thought I'd sing to you through this screen that acts as some sort of mediator in our relationship. Did you like it? I know I sing a bit off key. Anyone can sing on key. But I do sing with some feeling, don't I? I do.
Back to this ground-breaking idea that will quite probably fill up every Beth Moore and John Piper bible study book in the next four years.
Get your glory from God.
Is it a selfish idea? It depends on how you look at it. If you look at it with the conventional idea that to glorify something means to set it higher than yourself, then you're very quite wrong, frankly.
That's not even close.
Well... I mean, it's kind of close.... but not really, and here's why. When put in this context, it sounds like I'm just saying that you need to lift yourself higher than God, so that God must "glorify" you now, instead of the other way around. Now, you're the man in charge and God must grovel at your feet, singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" for all eternity.
This is a terrible idea that I do not like at all and never had any intention of expressing.
Ew.
Rather, think of it like this.
Where do you get your value? Admit it or not, you get your value from other people's opinions of you. Am I a good teacher? Am I a good basketball player? Am I cooler than he is? Am I more righteous than you? Yay, I'm pretty and trendy enough to be prom queen. Yes, I defeated Halo in one day and I can brag about it to my gamer friends. Huzzah, I wrote a witty blog that people will enjoy. Am I artsy enough? Am I spiritual enough? Do I like obscure enough music for people to think that I'm Indie? Do I use the right language and word choice so that people think I'm deep? Will Argyle socks make me look quirky and give me more attention? Will being different in any way give me more attention and, somehow, more self worth than anybody else?
This is all nonsense.
This is how we all live.
Everything we do, we do so that we might be acknowledged by other people. It's sickening. I'm writing this blog right now with the hopes that maybe Christy or Aunt Barb or Emily Steadman or Emily or Erin McLellan or anybody else might leave a thoughtful message of gratitude or something. Isn't that pathetic? Isn't it sickening? It is.
Not to say that I don't like blogging. I do, and not just because I get acknowledged and praised every once in a while for a "job well done." I like blogging because it's a free way to express myself to any willing eye. I like to toy around with words every once in a while and make "word sex" (not my terminology) to create (or reproduce.. haha...) phrases and sentences and paragraphs that are just fun to read. I have a long way's to go to actually be acceptable at it, but hey, I enjoy it.
All this to say, we do everything that we might get some sort of praise or "glory" from other people.
And who are they, that we might value their opinion to the point that we'll change our lifestyles just so that they might think well of us?
I know this is an age old saying that contemporary musicians like to repeat over the radios, and which awkward, identity-less college kids make their anthem, but really just consider: Why should we care about what other people think?
There is no reason at all. Everyone is just as screwed up as you are. None of us know what true beauty really is, and we have way too many different opinions of what good and bad actually are, and most of us spend more time being shallow and uncreative than deep and artsy. And even if someone is artsier than you are, or more talented in music than you are, or prettier than you are, well.... good for them. But it simply doesn't matter when it comes to where you get your value. If they don't like you or don't think you're special, it doesn't matter. They're elevating themselves to the place of Judge, and that's the most audacious sin anyone could commit.
Stop running around trying to get people to clap for you. People are fallen, separated from God, so they have no idea what is good or bad, worthy to be judged or set free, beautiful or ugly, to begin with. Their favor is fickle and empty.
You're just looking for an authentic redemption from the place that only offers a fake one.
Get your glory, get your value and your personhood, from the knowledge that God, the one who really knows beauty (he created it) and who really knows what is good and bad, takes delight in you. Accept your feelings of redemption because of His pleasure in you. Only then will you know who you are.
Okay, so that was another cheesy, "tie-into-a-spiritual-lesson" blog, I know. But I think it's valid.
And don't criticize me for talking about God like I have no doubt he exists, when yesterday I wasn't quite sure. I don't care what you think, anyway.
:)
2 comments:
Well, I knew I was going to say something long before I saw that you USED MY NAME in your blog... geez, I feel famous!... anyway, thank you so so much for being a thinker (I always say that, don't i?)
I don't really have an answer for you, but we shouldn't always be looking for answers when so much of life will never ever be answered (well maybe in heaven). The following are the words I felt compelled to write after reading this blog, and you can do with it as you'd like :)
I *feel* your tension with life, and I, also, am struggling with the question you asked about the ultimate purpose of it. I become very convinced that life's ultimate purpose is to glorify God when I'm in a group of goody goody Christians. People like missionaries, Bible institute students, pastors, Christian radio hosts... people whose very essence HAS to make life appear simple and understood (at least, that's how I see it). Their jargon and smiley faces ooze "life fits in a little box and of course it's all about bringing God glory, duh!" But then I spend time with people who go to church and know Jesus but don't have an occupation in ministry nor intend to, and we don't discuss the purpose of life, we just do it. Whatever comes out, comes out. And things are MUCH more complicated because everyone around approaches life differently, handles their hardships differently, cares about different things differently, and the "differently" list goes on and on.
And then I am befuddled because so many things I see around me in the lives of other Christians don't necessary tell me that they're focus is to glorify God. Their actions say, "I'm just trying to make sense of life and keep moving forward." While I love the sentence I just wrote (because I LOVE to struggle through things and make sense of life), it can easily feel like it's not good enough because it doesn't fit in a box or say that I'm/they're living to glorify God. But then I wonder- is glorifying God with my life an action that I have to work on, or does it simply happen because I was created by Him and for Him and give Him delight by simply being me. At this point in time, I am pushing Christian limits (these are self-imposed limits of my former opinions of what God expects from a Christian) in many parts of my life, but I can honestly say that I rest well at night because I sincerely believe that God's love for me far exceeds anything I do that doesn't bring him glory, whether I'm aware of it or not. I'm not worried about how I will measure up because "God's daughter" is my title, not something I'm trying to achieve.
since i was mentioned i had to comment :). i will be back though with something hopefully more profound from another author that wrote on the whole giving
God glory thing...when i find it. something about God not having the personality of the devil and wanting all the glory for himself, instead wanting his kids to have his glory... be back later
Post a Comment