What…If
Back earlier this summer, as the rain slashed against our windows and the lightning boomed nearby, Claudia and I settled in on the couch, warm and dry, to do some Netflix therapy. We watched a Rom-Com called Letters to Juliet where the predictable story arc unspooled. The characters and slow development of the tale made it an enjoyable diversion.
At the end, when much seemed wrapped up, one character read aloud the letter written by another about love lost and then pursued afresh. What struck me was how it started. Here’s what I recall the actress read at a wedding feast.
“What” and “if” are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together, side by side, and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life. What…if. What…if. What if?
What transpires in the film after this warms the heart as all loose strings are tied up and everyone lives happily ever after…just like real life (yeah, right). But for me, the letter spurred some thought.
What if?
Often our faith life is like the old PacMan character who chomps his way along from one piece to the next without much thought. This phrase makes me stop and think. Stop and think of the practical implications of what I say I believe and not only living today then on to the next.
What if it’s all true?
Would I live differently? Is my faith just an add-on as part of a decent life? I noodled a few “what ifs” and you will have many others.
What if I really am God’s welcomed child, beloved in all my brokenness?
What if a whole new life was the point and not just new systems of religion?
What if the way up really is the way down?
What if God’s saving grace is so far beyond my little theological box?
What if the fruit of the Spirit really is to be our calling card and not just for special occasions and gifted people?
What if what is mine is meant to be shared, not hoarded?
What if the way of Jesus is more important than my preferences or politics or opinions?
What if I didn’t cave to fear?
What if this life, as good as it is, only is a foretaste of the better to come?
What if…
Let’s take a minute and tease out three of these in our time together.
First, what if I really am God’s welcomed child, beloved in all my brokenness?
How might I live differently if I understood more of all that has been given to me? I am free. Do I really grasp the greatness of Jesus introducing me to the Father and being seen as an adopted child? Then free to walk a life worthy of my new name, not to please a God who measures behaviors for acceptance. God loves me. Period.
God loves you. That’s a well-worn phrase so familiar that it can come across lacking the punch it deserves. Imagine that the God of all who reigns and rules, looks on you and…smiles. We are not the cringing creature before a severe god, but more like a frightened three year-old waking his father in the middle of the night, and drawn in for a hug and reassurance of our safety in his presence, not shooed off as a bother. That God, the one who died for you, loves you.
John nearly explodes with this in his first letter.
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.
Paul dogpiles on this in Colossians 3.
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
He goes on to challenge folks to live this out with behaviors that match their position, working from the inside, out. This looks like all the good behavior lists you have heard before, but set in a context of living more and more like Jesus and less and less like what you say you have left behind.
So now we are both free and bound. Through Jesus, we are free from so much and at the same time bound through love to a Savior who invites all to follow him in a new way. Ponder for a bit how you might live differently if all this is true.
Next, What if the way of Jesus is more important than my preferences or politics or opinions?
Our days are driven by the drumbeats from so many voices who want our devotion. It can be seductive to fold our faith life into the mold of my cultural or political stances. I am extremely disturbed and disappointed over how thoroughly many in the evangelical church have chosen to jump on the bandwagon of the most “conservative” form of politics.
Cultural forces on both sides of the street strive to make Jesus into either a MAGA supporting nationalist, or on the other side a progressive socialist justice warrior. Neither mirror the way of Jesus. It’s worth it to remember that Jesus wasn’t white, was in some ways homeless, had been an immigrant as a child, and refused to join in on the political tug-o-wars of his day, and held his harshest criticism for the religious crowd.
Regardless of your political persuasion, the way of Jesus calls his apprentices to love enemies, influence society for good, share resources, cross cultural walls, all the while looking for a kingdom yet to be revealed. The way of Jesus is, by its very nature, counter-cultural. What might it look like if we followed the way of Jesus? What if?
One more. What if the fruit of the Spirit really is to be our calling card and not just for special occasions and gifted people?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Quite the list, especially when laid up against our life at any given moment. A life walking in harmony with God, Paul says in Galatians 5, will naturally carry these qualities.
This isn’t a matter of trying hard to produce these. Rather, this is the fruit naturally coming from a life in step with Jesus. In the chapter where this is found, Paul talks about what comes from a life given to any and all desires as opposed to what comes from a life intent on being God-oriented.
There’s a pastor in Denver who made his own bumper sticker for his rig. It simply says, “FRUIT HAPPENS.” All of us produce fruit, Jesus tells us, but good fruit comes from healthy trees and bushes and vines. When we are aligned with FatherSonSpirit our fruit will look like him, naturally. If fruit happens, what am I growing?
Look at the list again.
Agape love: willed, chosen, and unconditional, sprayed about with abandon
Joy: a deep sense of wellbeing apart from circumstances
Peace: anxiety-free living convinced that God is able
Patience: the ability to endure, to remain in place with people and life
Kindness: wanting the best for everyone you come across
Goodness: a solid life where what is seen matches what is said
Faithfulness: stubborn loyalty and devotion to the stuff that matters most
Gentleness: strength under control and used for good
Self-Control: the will and action to govern desires
Again, these aren’t a list to be worked on, like building a deck a board at a time, but come naturally when we walk in the Spirit and can function well as indicators of our faith-health. If a believer isn’t having these show up in daily life, a self-check is in order.
So, friend, what if? God welcomes your questions and wonder your wonders. Ask away. Oh, the places you will go.
And, Letters to Juliet is a worthy, predictable, and enjoyable diversion on a rainy evening. Curl up on the couch and veg.
Music is always good
Jokes for the week
A woman woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and saw she had only three hairs on her head.
"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today."
So she did, and she had a wonderful day.
The next morning she looked in the mirror and saw only two hairs on her head.
"Hmm, " she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today."
So she did, and she had a grand day.
The next day she saw that she had only one hair on her head.
"Okay," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."
So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw that there wasn't a single hair on her head.
"WOW!" she exclaimed. "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Attitude is everything!
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As they wait for the bus, Mother tells little Johnny to say he's 4 years old if the driver asks, so he can ride for free.
As they get into the bus, the driver asks Johnny how old he is.
"I am 4 years old," Johnny replied.
"And when will you be six years old?" asked the driver.
"When I get off the bus."