Looking Into The Mirror
"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then
we will see face to face. Now I know only in part;
then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."
1Corinthians 13:12
All of us have lives to live and it takes an honest person to realize and admit that in the living of life, in our day to day and year to year, sometimes even moment to moment, attempts at walking through life, weighing possibilities, making decisions, managing personal affairs, coping with stresses that we create for ourselves, coping with stresses that others create for us, in facing the temporal, fleeting and vaporizing nature of life, not a one of us always does it right and all of us have and will face things that are difficult but necessary to accept as life as it really is. And to admit imperfection, to admit fallibility is one of the greatest measurable marks of maturity any of us can ever attain to.
I'm so glad that of all the people whose names are registered and whose lives are recorded as examples in the Bible only one was perfectly perfect and did everything right. That really gives me hope. That helps me to be able to look at myself in the mirror without self-condemnation, without looking down on the imperfect image that I see looking back at me, knowing that I may be an example but I'm not the Great Example and only the one who wears that title is qualified to sit as my examiner or the examiner of any other person.
It's enough for any of us to spend the time and make the effort to discover our own intrinsic talents, to realize the gifting of God placed within us and to find a workable arena where we can develop and grow into the individually created images of God that we are. And, honestly, this is the great barren desert land that I see within the realm of conservative evangelical Christendom where creative talented people are taught and brought to a "born again" experience only to be led into a corral where they are clothed with "look alike" uniforms, trained in "sound alike" dialects like children who for the first few years of their lives are taught to walk and talk and then ever after that are constantly being told to sit down and shut up.
Somewhere along the way the people Christ came to set free from the bondage of laws and regulations discovered that it was easier to impose dictates and doctrines as a means of crowd control than it was to inject the healing remedy of divine truth and divine love that liberates the masses and sets the captives free to be and become individual and unique creations of God blessed with talents and endowed with gifts that God wishes to use as the elements of salt and light bringing healing to those who are hurting and illuminating a world that's groping around in the darkness created by personal failure, disappointment and despair.
And we wonder why the successful, affluent and influential people in the world aren't knocking the doors down trying to find refuge in the Church and the Church finds contentment in throwing stones at all the people, from the affluent to the impoverished, who refuse to be led into this corral of confusion.
We talk about heavenly bliss in the hereafter while people are trying to make it in the nasty here and now. Jesus said, "The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)
The older we get the greater the tendency becomes to focus on the promise that Jesus gave us when he said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare and place for you?"
But it's in the here and now that we live. It's in the here and now that we are making our passage. And heaven may be our goal in the afterlife but here and now is the present reality that holds people like an iron vise in its crushing grip. Abundant life is more than merely existing and waiting on that eventful day when we draw our last breath. Life is to be enjoyed. Life is to be appreciated. Life is designed to be an adventure and not just a series of crashing waves that pound us helplessly to pieces while we opt for the great cop out of sitting and blaming the devil for all our problems.
We can do life victoriously. Paul said it this way ... "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him." (2 Cor. 2:14) And if we aren't triumphing then just maybe we aren't being led divinely.
We formulate principles that promise prosperity while people are trying to find a peaceful existence in a world filled with confusion. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." (John 14:27)
Now don't misunderstand me and roast me. Prosperity is not of the devil and I'm not willing to say that poverty is either. Both prosperity and poverty can be tools in his hand. But the truth is that prosperity may provide people with resources and purchasing power but there is no load of prosperity available that can generate peace in the inner recesses of a human soul.
Nicodemus had resources but still sought out Jesus. Mary Magdalene had resources and still sought out Jesus. Luke the physician had resources and still sought out the truth about Jesus. Saul had resources and used them to persecute believers in Jesus and still found himself yielding to the truth about Jesus. Cornelius had resources and still sought out the truth about Jesus. These are just a few of the examples where we find people of antiquity looking for something to fill a void that resources couldn't fill. And it's a truth that men and women for the past twenty centuries have sought as well.
It's not principles to prosperity that generate peace in our souls. We can have every golden idol that impresses us with its glitter and still be miserable inside. We can have all the clout, all the power, all the authority, all the pomp and circumstance, and still be feel miserable inside.
Possessions or the lack of them has nothing to do with inner peace. Inner peace is a manifestation of the power and grace of God that affirms and assures us that we are in communion with God. Inner peace is that hard to explain element that confirms the love of God in us that "passes all understanding" letting us know we are accepted in spite of where we can afford to buy clothes, what make and model of automobile we drive, how much we've got stacked up in a savings account, the color of our skin or how many times we've failed or fallen short.
We devise doctrines that harness and saddle while people are running from political and religious chains seeking freedom from any hand that offers oppression. Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus is not a hard fellow to get along with. In fact, he came to set us free from absolutely everything that keeps us in bondage. He fulfilled the Law making all the requirements of the Law unnecessary for us and he stepped beyond all that the Law could ever do by giving every believer the intrinsic power of His Spirit that equips and enables them to rise above the things that handicap them.
And that's what people are looking for. Not politics and religious creeds. People are looking for the same Jesus who walked among them feeling their infirmities. People are looking for the same Jesus who kicked over the tables of the money changers who were taking advantage of them. People are looking for the same Jesus who stood flat footed and faced the Pharisees and Sadducees calling them white washed tombs full of dead mens bones.
I believe this is still the only Jesus that people in the world today will respect and receive and that this is the only yoke that people in the world outside the confining walls of traditional religious experience today will take upon their necks. This is the Jesus that I respect and receive and the only yoke that I can willingly place my own neck into. His yoke isn't heavy. His yoke doesn't poke splinters into your neck. His yoke doesn't wear blisters or raw spots. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
©David Kralik Ministries, Inc. 2003
Email: matthewfivesix@hotmail.com
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