Close...Close Enough?

In earlier articles, I’ve written about the Christian’s reluctance to name the name of Jesus Christ in his daily conversations, and even, at times, in his prayers. Astonishing as it may be, we are often ashamed to be known as a heartfelt follower and disciple of our one and only Savior.

Recently I watched a film presentation that I found both challenging and troubling. It concerned a fictional small town in Texas called Promise, where a husband and wife were mourning for a child who had died, and where the residents had been suffering from a severe drought for a number of years.

Mysteriously, a young boy about ten years of age wanders into this town, claiming to have come on a mission from God. This lad brings with him some sweet words of encouragement, some remarkable signs and wonders such as healings and prophecies about coming rainfalls, etc. He is even present when a girl who dies from an overdose is brought back to life. He also gives a ministry to the grieving mom. She agrees to make prayer mats for all the residents of the town, because the boy tells her that they all need to begin talking to God.

Toward the end of the movie, Gabe (the little boy) ministers to a dying doctor, who was the attending physician when the couple’s child passed away. The doctor says how unworthy he feels to leave this earth and get into heaven, but Gabe assures him that he is worthy, thanks to the blood of Christ. Then the doctor smiles, begins glowing with a heavenly light, and finally dies.

Throughout his ministry in the small town of Promise, Gabe claims that he is only a messenger, with no inherent power of his own. Then, at a town meeting where the folks are remembering the departed physician, Gabe finally reveals himself to be the angel Gabriel, complete with huge, spreading wings, causing everyone to respond with awe.

Now, obviously, this movie was a parable, designed to communicate the value of faith, hope and love, primarily to audiences who already have a basic belief in “God.” For that purpose, I found it entertaining and effective, keeping my interest and making me wonder who or what the boy Gabe would turn out to be. The fact that this character eventually used the term “the blood of Christ” with the dying doctor was reassuring, for I had feared that the making of the prayer mats was some obscure reference to Islam. Up to that point in the story, the “God” Gabe was serving was something of a puzzle.

So much of our media today portrays faith in God as a kind of panacea, that is, a cure-all for the troubles, pains, disappointments and fears that plague us as human beings. God is so good and so loving, we are told, that He cares about our dying loved ones, about our crops that need rain so desperately, about our dangers and afflictions. But it troubles me that so many of the viewing public, especially people who only attend church occasionally and read their Bibles only sporadically, may be forgetting that it’s not enough to “come close” when it comes to trusting “God.”

The true God–the only God who deserves our trust, the only God who EXISTS–is not only perfectly GOOD. He is also perfectly holy and just, and He hates our sins so much that He sent His beloved, eternal Son to suffer the judgment of HELL on the cruel cross. This God who is the ultimate Reality, determines reality for all those He has created. He has revealed this reality in a Book that tells the ultimate truth. He has revealed the reality of who He is in His Son who IS ultimate Truth: the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again!

God warns us in His book that if we go on resisting His truth–truth about who He is…truth about who WE are…truth about the judgment awaiting sinners…truth about the only Savior from sin–then there will come a day when that truth will be taken away from us. And we will then be left with the watered-down half-truths of wandering, wishful storytellers who may occasionally “come close” to eternal life…

But not close enough to save anybody.

MNA

4/26/2023

Beauty's Longing

Feather-fingered branches massage the morning sky--
a pale gray pallette awaiting a tarrying dawn;
voices from that distant wood echo
lower, far, far lower than my thoughts.
Music casts its magical curse on
my wooden ears of flesh, where the echoes die.

Elven languages leave me wandering,
wondering whether Tolkien heard them plainer:
songs across the western seas
where gray ships pass away, never returning...
Life of the song, heat of the flame, blindness of the light,
all beyond, far beyond my knowing.

But of Joy, Love, Truth, a mocking fragrance
bugles the hunt for one more day.
Through the gray a bow of promise breaks
and nettles of beauty pierce my stony depths.
At such tortured moments my soul would fly
into eager immolation, losing itself
in the One no mortal man could see, and live.


MNA
3.23.2016

Heart-throbs

A young mom watches as her little child stubbornly refuses to obey and is heading toward a hot stove or an electrical socket. This mom thinks that stern discipline with her daughter would produce terrible guilt feelings, and her heart tells her not to inflict pain on her sweet little girl.

A marine sergeant arrives on the beachhead with his platoon after being released from the VA hospital where he recovered from serious injuries on the battlefield. Every beat of his heart is telling him to order the other teams ahead rather than lead the charge himself.

A lonely Christian man is transferred to a facility in a remote area. There are no good churches nearby and the area is sparsely populated. There are several bars in the vicinity, notorious for catering to attractive females. Each day when his shift is over, his heart yearns for companionship as he drives by them.

Those are just three situations that serve to remind me that the human heart can’t always be trusted. Here’s another:

In spite of his top-flight training and vast experience as a starship captain, Jim Kirk has fallen in love with Edith Keeler, after traveling to earth’s past to prevent his ship’s surgeon from altering the future. As we near the end of this famous Star Trek episode, we discover along with Kirk that Edith had originally died in a traffic accident, but Dr. McCoy came back from the future and saved her life, unwittingly changing all of history. “Jim, Edith Keeler must die,” the ever-logical Mr. Spock tells his captain. What will Captain Kirk do? Follow his heart?

You and I needn’t resort to history-altering sci-fi plot devices to learn the sad truth that our hearts are quite fallible and can readily lead us astray. We don’t like to admit it, but “follow your heart” cannot be the controlling factor for virtuous behavior.

Certainly, following the dictates of our heart’s desires makes our actions understandable. For, normally, all things being equal, most of our desires run in the direction of achieving the most pleasurable goal with the smallest degree of pain or effort. Proverbs such as “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and “No pain, no gain,” and “Anything worth doing is worth doing well” too often fall on deaf ears when our hearts are faced with a painless path, an easy fix, a speedy reward.

People who achieve extraordinary things, things renowned for their great value or virtue, are generally those who take a longer look when it comes to their life purpose and their goal-setting. So often my “heart’s desire” is appallingly short-term, aiming my sights a mere five or ten paces down the road ahead. Especially when my energy is low and I am winding down after a hard day, it takes special effort to picture in my mind the possible vistas that may exist over the next hill, let alone beyond those distant blue mountain ranges of my life.

And yet, the wisest among us ought to allow visions of those distant destinations to strongly determine the kind of day-by-day, moment-by-moment choices we make today. My heart condition at the present hour might be hungering after a Big Mac and fries, but beyond those foreboding peaks out there, my heart may deeply regret such a short-sighted menu choice!

My feelings often seem overwhelmingly real--not just real in the sense of existing as feelings: real in the sense of defining reality itself. When a wave of greed or passion or hate or loneliness crashes over me, the world around me is colored by the intensity of that feeling. The world itself is greedy, passionate, hateful, lonely--not just my feelings. And I’m afraid this also applies far too often to my attitude toward God.

The most important thing to keep in mind--and in heart--about the character and promises of God is that they do not change and cannot fail. As the wonderful old hymn puts it, “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”

Romans 8:28 tells me: “And we know that all things work together for good, for them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” This promise gives me a solid answer for all the fleeting feelings that might lead my heart astray into doubt and disobedience. In His holy word the God of creation has taught me what is right and wrong, and although my heart may be shouting against His wisdom in favor of some short-term pleasure or desire, those feelings of the moment cannot be my guide.

Because my good God is ever in control of all the things I encounter along my path, I can trust Him completely, loving Him with all my heart, mind and strength. After all, He sees the path far beyond those mountains. His goal for me is all mapped out; with His guidance, I cannot miss it!