the glory within myself.
“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.”
After first reading this quote today from Marianne Williamson, I thought about how beautifully the words rolled from my tongue “…Love is the essential reality.” But once the initial attraction wore off, I wondered at the thought behind it. Am I really born with love? Where does fear come from? Am I actually lacking in my spiritual life if I have some fear or if I am searching for meaning somewhere other than in my own mind?
A couple weeks back, Mark Driscoll preached a sermon titled, “Death By Love” about Christ suffering and dying for us on the cross. (as a side note-this is an awesome message) He gives a story about a time when he heard a sermon being broadcast over the radio that instantly infuriated him. He was driving along in his truck on his way to preach at his church on Easter morning, and turned on the Christian radio station. The pastor giving the message was attempting to make an analogy between the cross and investment banking. Mark quoted the pastor as saying “…the cross is like investment banking. You put your money where it will get the greatest return. So, if Christ gave His life for us on the cross, it must mean that we are a great investment!”
In case you missed it, let me paraphrase Mark’s response, “…it makes me physically sick to hear about the cross in such a way that it happened for any reason other than God’s grace to an undeserving world… it robs it of its power, and removes the truth of the the atoning death of Christ, and it makes the atonement just one more way to show that I’m a great person.”
This may come as a shock to some, but we are not great people. In Philippians 3:4b-6, Paul gives a list of reasons why he would be a great person in the context of modern culture:
“If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
As Alistair Begg pointed out in a sermon once, “Paul is listing all of his positive character qualities as on a balance sheet, and he fills the asset side with great qualities about himself.” But then he continues in vv. 7-9:
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
(emphasis mine)
Basically, if he were standing before God, the prosecuting attorney of heaven would turn around and list everything that he had just listed as assets, but on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. This is something we must come to grips with, because our society is becoming obsessed with our own righteousness and our individual strength. But we have to realize that nothing, save Christ’s power, can make us holy. No power found within ourselves is strong enough to save us, redeem us, purify us or complete us. In short:
We were not a great investment.
The ultimate act of love was Christ’s atoning death on the cross. Our love is made complete in Him. We cannot find our meaning in any place other than through Christ. It isn’t within ourselves or in other people… it is in Christ alone. It is in Him that we find the completion of love, and in Him that we find our true meaning and identity.
The truth is, we are born with the ability to love and the capacity to fear, and we learn to do both. Some of us learn love better than others, while others develop their fears. And the honesty in our love and the rationality of our fear is determined by where we search for true love.
God’s love casts out fear. That’s the love I’m seeking after.
Categorized as Ministry, Christianity, Culture