To Fear is Human. To love is Divine.
Janie Allen
“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.” Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
Confessing God before men sounds too formal, like the world is a courtroom. But speaking to people with respect no matter their station proves to go a long ways in showing the love of God to people. Every year at Christmas time growing up, I saw my mom bring homemade peanut brittle to our doctor’s office. Yet, every Christmas, she also gave it to the men who came by with the garbage truck once a week. Being well read, she might have known about this quote. Nevertheless, the scene of her tiny frame handing peanut brittle up into the cab of the garbage truck spoke volumes to me as a child. Thus, reading this quote made me reminisce about my mom’s boldness in loving others. She spoke of Jesus to her Sunday school class, but “lived” Jesus everywhere. I try to do that. Yet, there is a time to speak of Jesus. How that comes about, I believe, is through the art of loving people.
And when I do speak of Jesus outside a Christian meeting, I hope it is more like adding special seasoning to a well prepared meal. Isn’t the main course our caring actions? Speaking of our relationship with Jesus is the seasoning, right? And a little seasoning goes a long way. A meal without spices can look delicious, but is a bit blah. In the same way, as we serve up the love that is in our hearts to others outside the Christian faith, there comes a time to add a bit more spice and speak of the hope within us. I believe that we can be “salt and light” in this world without speaking…definitely. Nevertheless, let’s be ready to speak, too!
When I share anything with words, my words must come from faith and not fear. Isn’t it inevitable that fears will get the best of us at times? We fear saying the wrong thing or saying it the wrong way. We don’t want to mess up the mutual respect that we have carefully cultivated. Still, a simple barometer for me, as I share myself and my faith, is the “love” barometer. If fear is present, I might as well just smile, listen and wait for the latent love that is in me to rise up and wipe out the fear.
I like to put a little twist to Alexander Pope’s “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” To fear is human. To love is divine. Fear can be heavy and paralyzing. Like an avalanche of icy apprehension burying me alive, fear of rejection can crush the spunk right out of me. As fear grows within me, my thoughts speed or erase from my brain. It is an awful feeling, isn’t it?
Fear is real, even if what we are afraid of is not. Like the time a woman screamed “Snake!” during my water aerobics class this past summer. We all froze in fear with little echoes of gasps circling the pool. As the instructor reached her hand toward the scary object, we held our breath. To our amusement she pulled out a long thick piece of snaky looking grass! Then we roared with laughter at the ability of the innocuous to appear dangerous. How many times do we see a threat where there is none?
Anger, worry, and fear may start with the truth, but are perpetuated by lies. My friend, Melanie, introduced me to this acronym: fear is False-Evidence-Appearing-Real. When irrational fears about how I appear to others take over my thinking, the real “me” suddenly dies or slips into hiding. I’m stunned into conformity. Someone else’s expectations take over my body. I’m buried under this nebulous configuration of what others think I should be. I resurrect altered, only to play a role. With fear my master; I am a phony, a puppet, an actor. I am living a lie. Where did my life of love go?
At first, pretending feels right. Before long, though, I start gagging at my secret fear, my silliness and theatrics. God’s little pinky, in a sense, is pushing on my gag reflex. God tends to tug in the direction of authenticity, much like a bull dog. His standard of love calls me to meaningful and genuine relationships. Which is harder, being genuine out in a mixed crowd or within our intimate circle of friends? I’ve discovered that being genuine is harder outside my inner circle of relationships because there is little accountability. A fake is not as easily recognized among strangers. With God, though, all is laid bare! This is a little scary, but true.
The best news ever: God is the one who put in us this craving for the genuine. He steers us on the path toward truth, vulnerability, and transparency. He knows us all too well. We have a tendency to stray. Nonetheless, if we but ask, He makes us bold in our expression of mercy and love, and resolute in being fully human. This translates into “being real”. He helps us leave behind the fear-based stuff of apprehension. Love is always a risk. Yet, think about what we risk. We mostly risk our pride. Loving others well makes for a wonderful life. The wealthiest people on the planet are not those sitting on huge stacks of money, but those lost in love’s expression, saturated by the richness of giving it away. Love is like a “bouncer”. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love hauls fear out the door and bounces it on its ear.
True love, Christ’s love, is tall, broad, muscled, deep, wide, pure, strong, and purposeful. When the weight of society threatens to crush my spirit and I feel like who I am in Christ is crumbling, I pull out the fiery sword of truth spoken in love and use it like a chainsaw to make my jagged destructive mark upon the steel pillars of my own pretense. Doing this may feel awkward, but I am thankful to God that the better side of me is alive, thriving, and able to relate to others without discounting my identity in Christ. I can’t pretend that I am naturally sweet. Jesus sweetens me up. Where we are weak, He makes us strong. Where we act fake, He makes us true. Where we are blind, He helps us see. He’s the transformer.
In Christ we want to find ourselves content with just being naturally tuned into what would honor Him. No, we don’t get it right all the time. I absolutely refuse to get “strung out” on being the perfect Christian example. I’m just me and you are just you. I am trying to avoid making acceptance by others my main goal. I should expect some people to reject the Christ in me, but I must actually live the Christ in me in order for them to have the choice of rejecting Him. In this way I pose a choice much more difficult than just rejecting me, the more serious choice of rejecting Christ. And, of course, acceptance of the both of us would be just amazing.
We all like to be appreciated for our convictions and helpful attitude. When we feel like we’re doing it right, we don’t like to be dumped, ignored, or snubbed. It’s painful. This is when godliness with contentment is great gain. Being satisfied with God’s love and acceptance helps each of us take the risk of being rejected by others. Whose applause counts most anyway, that of man or God? Walking down the aisle of godly contentment, who cares where the applause went? Our savior is saying, “Well done.” He wants us to love well, and sincerely. Nobody likes a fake. Let’s encourage one another to be true to God and authentic in relationships.
Thanks for your authenticity!
ReplyDelete