I was watching X-Men 1st Class tonight with my family (again). Yeah, yeah, I know- I'm a geek. This has been established a long time ago for those of you who know me. It's a good movie, even if you don't like superhero movies. It has some deeper themes that are pretty compelling. But that is not the reason for my writing tonight.
Sometimes when I watch a movie or read a book, a line will leap out and demand my attention. This happened tonight. One of the characters, Charles Xavier, is trying to get his friend Erik Lensherr to overcome his doubt in his abilities. He is encouraging him to go above and beyond what he ever dreamed was possible. This is what he said.
There's so much more to you than you know.
As I watched the rest of the movie, I kept repeating this over and over in my head. It felt like something God would say to me, would say to you.
"You have no idea how much I have poured into you. I know, because I created you. I thought of you. I know every single thing about you. In fact, I made you in my image. You reflect my glory and character. You have so much ability and strength and power. I have even given you the ability to access much of what I have put in you, even if you decide to deny my very existence. There is so much meaning that I have attributed to you. Did you know that you have a very specific purpose? That I have a plan for you?"
It's true. Whoever you are who might be reading this- you have so much value. I know you don’t often feel this to be true. But you can't ignore the fact that God thought you should exist. You were thought of long before you were conceived in your mother's womb. God knew you had to exist. In fact, I believe that you reflect an aspect of God that nobody else ever has or ever will. He is that diverse, that amazing. You have the spark of the divine inside of you whether you believe in God or not.
All that power, all that intention, all that talent, all that potential...
Why are you willing to trade it in for garbage, for dung, for nothing? You see, the only way to truly realize who you are is to embrace the one who made you. If you want to be fully alive, you have to connect to the source and origin of who you are. I would never be so foolish to suggest that you can't have a full life, experience joy, without connecting to Him, but there is more out there for you. I think you can sense it. Or you ignore it. But in your quieter moments you feel a yearning for something more. Many mislabel this desire as something else: ambition, drive, the need for companionship or success and many other things.
If all this is true, than He knows the most life fulfilling way of living. Of course he would know. When we disagree, we are essentially telling God that we don't believe Him. We are telling him that we know better.
We sin.
When we decide to go our own way, when we unplug from him, we start to lose our story. Instead of living the most fulfilling story, the one he has imagined for us, we decide to write it our own way. When we sin, something will ALWAYS be stolen, killed or destroyed. Sometimes very slightly, sometimes very obviously. But it carries such a steep price. Sin intends us to lure us off our path towards becoming and living who we really are. Our true selves. It paints a picture that seems to be a better path. One that promises more fulfillment than the path God has laid out for us.
You have the ability to create your own path. But when you do, you walk down a path created to lead you to your own destruction. Yes, I know this sounds melodramatic, but what if it's true? We do have an enemy and he despises us because when he looks at us, he too can see who we really are. And this terrifies him. you see, part of our destiny and our story is to take down his kingdom. he knows that if we live the story we are intended to live, we will bring irreparable damage to his kingdom. And you will be so happy living that story.
He has to stop you. He has to distract you. Never doubt that he knows or has a pretty good idea of what you are capable of. And he can't have that. Doesn't this explain so much? Whenever you feel like you are really starting to hit your stride, why is there so much resistance? And when you want to screw things up that same opposition seems to go away? And the only thing stopping you or trying to stop you from this path is that small voice inside you begging you to reconsider the consequences? (for more on this, read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge)
The most deceptive part of departing from God's story for you is that it can seem to work out pretty well for awhile. It often seems much easier than God's path. The rewards generally some much more quickly. When we start writing our own rules, when we sin, the consequences are not often immediate. The contrary path is supposed to look attractive. Why would anyone take it otherwise? You wouldn't steal if you knew you would get caught. you wouldn't have gossiped if you knew the pain it would cause. You wouldn't have slept with her if you knew about the STD, you wouldn't have made work your god if you knew you would lose your family, you wouldn't have looked at the porn if you knew you would lose your wife. If the consequences of sin weren't subtle, nobody would do it.
We have all this glory inside of us and so often we trade it for shit.
Stunning. Insane.
And yet I do it so much more than I am often to admit. I get so disgusted with myself. For I have seen the damage sin can do. In very painful ways. Far too often I still think it will be ok to do it my way. And it doesn't ever work out well.
This is where the church comes in. Fellow believers. Friends.
I can't do it alone. I can never be the person I was created to be without so many of you. I must surround myself with a community of people who are deeply interested in getting to know who I really am. And I must be committed to helping them discover who they are as well. For in the processing of helping somebody else find their true story, I very often have light illuminated on my story as well. We most find out who we are when we help others. I know that I have blind spots. It isn't always that tough for me to be deceived. THat's why it is essential that I am not the only one who knows the story I am supposed to be living! I have to have people in my life who love me enough to tell me when I get off track. Even when I don't want to hear it. Especially when I don't want to hear it...
I need you.
And you need me. You need this as well. I really don't care if you go to a "church" or not. What I really care about is if you have a community of people who want to really know you and that are on a journey of faith. Do you talk about this stuff? Think about it? Who are you journeying with?
Honestly, I am not that big of a fan of organized church, but there are few better options. This is why I encourage you to go to a church that will help you where you are, not condemn you for where you have been. It's not because it's "the right thing to do" it's because you need it so badly.
This brings up another point, if you are going to let people help you, they have to know what your weaknesses ARE. As believers, we are generally REALLY bad at this. Normally when we get around "spiritual people" we like to show or tell them how much we have it together. This couldn't be more backwards. When people are really "messed up" they often say that they can't go into a church or the walls...
Right. The walls will fall in on them. This is so frustrating, but why do they feel like this? Because WE have made them feel like that! We have made them to feel like the church is for people who have it together! This would be extremely funny if it weren't so tragic. The very people who need the church are afraid to enter it because of all the people faking and hiding the weaknesses they have. And a whole bunch more see right through the smoke screen and are repulsed by it.
The point of the church isn't to show how much better we are than everyone else or how "forgiven" we are. We are supposed to be a bunch of people who have realized how weak we are and realized we can't do anything about it on our own. So we gather to help each other with our weaknesses as we corporately and individually present them to the only one who can repair our stories.
NOT a gathering of those who are all fixed up. Cause we are not. In many ways, when we act like this we are worse off than those who have rejected God; because we think we already have the answer, so we reject all calls to change because we think we already have.
We all have sinned and gone astray.
We have all tried to write our own stories.
There's SO much more to you than you know.
Why do you keep exchanging it for that which will eventually destroy you?
