Lost
By Mike Rule
I recently came across an article by Canadian television humorist and author
Red Green (a.k.a. Steve Smith) and I want to share it with you.
Why Mature Men Don't Ask for Directions When We're Lost Okay it all
comes down to pride.
We're out there driving around in our own vehicle, burning gas, wearing
sunglasses, looking good. People who see us driving by would never guess that
we have no idea where we are. And we don't want to tell them. Men don't enjoy
the concept of going up to total strangers and saying "You may not know
this but I'm a moron." In contrast the woman we're traveling with is
often very anxious to share this knowledge with the world. It somehow eases
her burden. To women, getting lost on a trip is a blameless act of nature - to
men it's a personal failure. He knew where he was when he left home - he
doesn't know where he is now. Somewhere along the line he crossed the line
from the world he knows into the world he doesn't know. To a man this is how
he felt when he got married or had kids. If he admits he's lost in the car,
he'll have to admit that he's lost everywhere and that's way too much to ask.
So just bite your tongue and circle the block a few more times. Men aren't
lost, they just go the long way.
This reminds me of us as Christians. Because of our stubborn pride, we refuse
to admit or accept how lost we really are. We end up taking the long way around
and prolong arriving at our destination - the revelation of Christ. Are we
willing to see our need AND admit we have a need so we can move on in our faith?
We have to admit where we are to leave where we are!
We often settle for putting on an external Christian show instead of
admitting our spiritual poverty. Jesus said in Matthew 5:3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven."
If we as God's children are unwilling to own up to our spiritually bankrupt
condition, we will never be willing to humble ourselves and receive the wealth
of the King. We can dress up like we have wealth but we know our bank balance is
zero. We can act like we are spiritually prosperous and pretend that we are
feasting at His banquet, but know that we are starving on the inside. Again, He
tells us in Matthew 5:6
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for they shall be filled."
Pride prevents us from admitting how hungry we are and as a result we are
dying while we are living. We end up settling for a life that is not abundant
because we do not think there is any other option. We come to believe that the
deeper life is a fairy tale or is not for us until after we get to heaven. Yet
there is a gnawing emptiness inside that yearns to be satisfied.
"Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit
who dwells in us yearns jealously"? But He gives more grace." (James
4:5&6)
There is a life dwelling within us that desires to flow out of us. But until
we are willing to recognize our bankruptcy and starvation, He lies dormant
within us. Our self efforts are working to prove in us that we cannot live the
Christian life. This frustration leads us to the desperation of recognizing our
poverty and starvation. Owning our destitution prepares us to recognize our
desperate need of Christ. We are saved not only from hell in the future but from
the hell of having to perform and put up a facade of Christianity. This is the
hell many of us live in. This hell is what instigates the deep longing within us
that can only be satisfied by Jesus Christ moment by moment.
You are better off than you think you are, for the Jesus within you will
reject any way that is not Himself. All your efforts to find satisfaction in
anything other than Christ will result in emptiness. Everything you have been
looking for is found in Him. Jesus is all you need. And you HAVE Him. You are
complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10 )
|