Once upon a time, a beautiful
young antelope had a date
in the forest, so she was
getting all gussied up-
new dress, makeup,
everything. Suddenly,
as she was just about
ready, she was stampeded
by a herd of wildebeests,
becoming the world's
first self-dressed,
stamped antelope.
Para El Dios Le amó Tan Que...
A Worthy End
ReplyDeleteAn essay from G.K. Chesterton begins, "In all the current controversies
people begin at the wrong end as readily as at the right end; never
stopping to consider which is really the end."(1) In a world impressed
with our ability to create and acquire our own high-tech carts, perhaps
putting the cart before the horse seems very natural. Even very
thoughtful people can fail to think through the point of all their
thinking. Chesterton continues, "One very common form of the blunder is
to make modern conditions an absolute end and then try to fit human
necessities to that end, as if they were only a means. Thus people say,
'Home life is not suited to the business life of today.' Which is as if
they said, 'Heads are not suited to the sort of hats now in fashion.'"(2)
His observations are akin to the experiment of Solomon. Cutting a child in
two to meet the demand of two mothers is hardly fixing what we might call
the "Child Problem."
The reverse of the end and the means is hardly a modern problem, though
some argue the trend is increasing. C.S. Lewis observed many years ago
that logic seems to be no longer valued as a subject in schools. Never
having taken logic as a school subject, or even noticed its absence, for
that matter, I might agree that the observation still rings true. But
this is perhaps all the more startling when you consider how much we
currently seem to value a constant surge of information. In the chorus of
incessant infotainment, T.S. Eliot's lament from "The Rock" seems
almost a heretical voice:
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
The inconsistency of information-addiction and logic-disinterest aside,
the silent battle within our over-stimulated ethos of options and
information seems to have become one against indifference. Weary from
pleasure and choice, apathy becomes a major obstacle. Many do not even
remotely care whether the horse or the cart comes first.
In the book recounting the lineage of Israel's Kings, Elijah went before a
people who had grown indifferent to the differences between Baal and
Yahweh. "How long will you waver between two opinions?" Elijah asked
them. "'If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.'
But the people said nothing" (1 Kings 18:21).
Cultural commentators note among us a similar indifference. While there
is an increasing interest in spirituality and a desire to locate deeper
meaning in life and experience, we waver between the gods and goods that
seem to answer. And though the need to pursue meaning is certainly a
cultural insight we do well to cultivate, the danger is perhaps in
allowing this desire to be the end in itself, the goal by which God or
Buddha or nature might serve as a means to fill. Like the men and women
before Elijah, our illogic is only compounded by our indifference. Should
we attempt to fulfill our spiritual voids without first asking why they are
there? Could not the desire itself exist because the God of creation, the
beginning and the end, placed it within you? If the LORD is God, why
would you not want to follow?
When Elijah asked the prophets of Baal to call him to reveal himself, the
test of truth was not avoided, but the decision was still before the
people. "Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. 'O
Baal, answer us!' they shouted. But there was no response; no one
answered. No one paid attention" (1 Kings 18:26). Then in a loud voice
Elijah called out, "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will
know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back
again" (1 Kings 18:37). The fire of the LORD immediately fell upon the
altar. And when the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The
LORD--He is God! The LORD--He is God!"
In this season of Lent a similar invitation looms large before us. We are
invited both to see anew our motivations and the reasons of our own hearts.
We are invited to hear again the call of Christ to follow him to the
Cross, wherever it might lead. At the end of that road, however
tumultuous the means, we shall perhaps find that it was always Christ who
carried us. Even now, he is among us, one worthy of being our end. If
the LORD is God, why would you not want to follow?
Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias
International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
(1) G.K. Chesterton, As I was Saying (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1985), 63.
(2) Ibid., 63.
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Three Healing Words
ReplyDeleteHe was only supposed to be a minor character in that new television series. But as "Happy Days," the hit series about 1950s teenagers grew in popularity, so did the popularity of a character known as Arthur Fonzarelli, a.k.a. Fonzie or "The Fonz." With his motorcycle and his greased-back hair and his ability to have a girlfriend literally with the snap of his fingers, Fonzie became one of the best known sitcom characters ever. Fonzie was the epitome of "cool," well, most of the time. He wasn't cool when he tried to say three little words. No, not "I love you." A strange paralysis seemed to take over his tongue whenever he tried to say, "I was wrong." Maybe you remember. It always came out something like, "I was wr-wr-wr-wr-wro-wro..." He never seemed to be able to get those words out.
Fonzie's not the only one who has a hard time getting those words out. Most of us have a very hard time saying, "I was wrong" Hey, I did it! It's sad that we struggle so much to admit we've been wrong. So many marriages could have been saved if someone could have said those words, "I was wrong" So many children could have been saved, so many churches could have been saved that ugly split, so many friendships, so any relationships - all the victim of our unwillingness to be wrong.
In James 5:16, our word for today from the Word of God, He shows us why saying "I was wrong" is so important. He says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." Admitting you were wrong, opening yourself up to apologizing - to saying you made a mistake, that's got the power to heal hurting and broken relationships.
Maybe you're in a situation right now where you've been just too proud or too hurt to make your part of it right. Even if the other person is 90 percent wrong and you're ten percent wrong, can't you at least deal with your ten percent? Some of us grew up around a parent who could never be wrong - even when they were. We didn't respect them more for that - we respected them less. A healthy human being doesn't care who is right, they care about what is right. And no one is right all the time. Over the years, I've had to go to the bed of my five-year old son, and say, "I'm sorry, son. I was wrong for what I said to you and what I said to your Mother." But there's healing power in those words, "I was wrong."
I stood by my friend Barry's side the night they were fighting for his daughter Cindy's life in the emergency room. She had tried to kill herself with an overdose of sleeping pills. Thank God, He answered our prayers for her life. And that night Barry went to her and said, "Honey, I've been so wrong for some of the ways I've treated you. I've been treating you in ways that my father treated me and I hated it. Please forgive me and give me a chance to change." Well, that night a beautiful father-daughter relationship was born, and it's continued over these many years. Maybe you need to be having a conversation like that. Just don't wait for the emergency room; don't wait for the divorce court.
If you can't say it, write it. But when you've done things you know you shouldn't have done or when you have failed to do things you know you should have done, be man or woman enough to say the words, "I was wrong." Those little words have the power to heal so much that's broken.
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