Back to Basics
My mother claims that when I was a small child, I wanted to know the details about everything. I wanted to know why something worked or why it didn’t. I wanted to know the process things went through in order to be the things they were. I have always been inquisitive; it is a trait I carry with me still, especially regarding matters of faith.
I think everyone, even those who don’t follow Christ, has his or her own personal list of questions they’d like to ask God. I certainly have a long list myself. Why do such horrible things happen to kind, selfless people while harmful, selfish people are allowed to keep on existing? Why are natural disasters allowed to occur when they tear apart so many lives? Why is there a disease called cancer? How would Jesus respond to gays and lesbians and how can I respond in the same way? Why do some couples who long for children fail to conceive while unprepared, irresponsible women get pregnant and choose abortion?
I marvel at people who are compassionate, giving, and selfless human beings who don’t claim to be Christ-followers, just as I marvel at angry, self-addicted, and arrogant people who do claim Christ as their Lord. I struggle with how we, as 21st-century human beings, can truly understand and interpret Scripture written thousands of years ago for entirely different audiences with entirely different dialects.
I often wonder if what I believe is really the truth. I read a lot of various books on Christianity and religion. Oftentimes, I will read something in one book that I think it beautiful and correct, then I will come across another book or article ripping apart the author I just read.
Even inside the Church, there are many, many issues that cause division. What role are women supposed to have? What does it mean to honor the Sabbath day? What attire is appropriate for worship services? What music and instruments are most God-honoring?
The questions never stop, it seems.
I meet with a group of my peers on Thursday nights for Bible study. We’ve recently started reading C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. We talk about what wisdom and understanding we can gain from Lewis’s work and how we can apply that to our relationships with Jesus. This week, we mentioned how overwhelming faith is, how difficult living life parallel with Christ can truly be.
Something that I have to remind myself to do quite frequently in my overwhelmed, panicked moments is to remember the basics of Christianity: I am a person made in the image of God, a person born into sin who cannot save herself regardless of what I do or abstain from. The only way to God is through His Son Jesus Christ, who was both God and man. Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for my sins, so that I could have unity with God on this Earth and for eternity in heaven.
As I talked with my friends on Thursday, I realized it all comes down to this. All the faith and spirituality stuff I immerse myself in, it all comes down to Jesus and who I think He is and what gifts of His I choose to claim. All Christians should agree on these basic elements of the faith. Everything else is open for interpretation, as long as that interpretation does not blatantly go against Scripture.
I can’t expect all Christians, or even just the Christians I know, to all agree on how to live out their faith. What I find beautiful, what speaks to me, might not speak to someone else. What draws me into worship might not be the thing that draws someone else into communion with God. There are many different answers and possibilities out there in the world. They do not answer the hard questions, the list of questions I’d like to ask God, but I do believe the possibilities enable us to gain wisdom. Wisdom isn’t about knowing all the answers, but about asking questions in order to better know and resemble Christ.
To end my ramble, I’ll quote a writer whose work has greatly influenced my own thoughts on spirituality. I love this quote because it reminds me of what truly is important:
“At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our theology being exactly right are a million to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that is my math is wrong we are still going to be okay. And wonder is the feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow. I don’t think there is any better worship than wonder.”
–Donald Miller, from Blue Like Jazz
PostSecret: Loving Better 101
One of my weekly Sunday traditions is checking PostSecret, the wildly popular blog where anonymous postcards are posted every Sunday revealing the senders’ secrets. Some secrets are joyful, some are scandalous, and most are heartbreaking.
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been fascinated with people. I have this constant urge to know what’s really going on inside someone’s head. My favorite novels and movies are those that allow me special insight into a person’s way of life. I like slow, meandering stories that mimic real life. I think that is why I look forward to PostSecret’s update each week. I’ve been reading the site for a long time now, but I am always shocked and humbled by the words and images on the cards people send in.
I’ve wondered for a while now how much a person can ever truly know about someone else. Can we only know what we are allowed to see?
I was having a conversation with one of my best friends last week. She was telling me two different stories, but they both tie into my current stream of thought. The first story was that she was talking to a friend of hers and he said that she didn’t open herself up to him enough. He said that he couldn’t fully love another person unless that person was willing to share everything with him, past and present.
My friend also told me about another friend of hers who has been growing more and more distant. My friend has done certain things this other person didn’t agree with and it’s as if, because of that behavior, the other person is trying to make some sort of moral statement by pulling away.
As I was talking to my friend about these things, I thought the same thing about both situations. In both cases, one person’s love was based upon other person’s actions; their love rose and fell based upon behavior. I don’t think love is true, God-given love if it is at all based upon the person I’m loving. If I begin to “love” someone less because that person doesn’t share things with me that I’d like to know about, that’s not genuine love. If I react to behavior I disagree with by punishing the other person, that’s not showing love but judgment.
Every Sunday as I read the postcards on PostSecret, I am reminded that every person has secrets. Every person has committed atrocious offenses. Every person has his or her personal baggage.
I want to be the type of person, the type of friend, who loves at all times, even when the worst of mistakes are revealed. I want to be able to love people as they are, scars and all, without judging them or their decisions. I want to remember that every person was created in the image of God, that every person is a candidate for grace and redemption.
I want to be able to love myself, knowing that I too have secrets and baggage. I want to be able to forgive myself for my own offenses. I want to be able to fully claim the grace of God and stop taking advantage of it.
Imagine how different the world might be if people were able to love better.
