Moving beyond a concept

Has anyone ever asked you if you’d like to go bungee jump off the Golden Gate bridge? To go skydiving?

They're usually vague questions; the person isn't asking you to go skydiving tomorrow, just if you might possibly like to go someday. You have nothing to lose by answering "Yes," imagining the valiant courage you’ll have at 10,000 feet in the air, braving the drop without even being tempted to bail or lose your lunch. Yet when you’re finally suited up, leaning over the edge of the plane looking at cars smaller than Hot Wheel cars, doubting how trustworthy your parachute is, and shaking your head empathically at the instructor telling you to jump, that’s when your concept of skydiving meets reality.

Lately I’ve been really wondering why, in our faith, we often never make it past the vague promise of skydiving. What is it about people that are so much more intimidating than a concept? What is it about stepping beyond what our minds believe and stepping into action that threatens to make a coward of us, that compels us to disown the beliefs we claim to hold dear? It’s a simple, familiar concept, but it's also one of our biggest roadblocks.

We all have different explanations to the "why" question. Maybe it’s because, by confronting a person, they may confront us back. By confronting a person, we look into their eyes and see their doubts and prejudices, and we are tempted to throw belief to the wind as if we’re cutting them a break. Maybe it makes us insecure to be challenged. Maybe it makes us lose sight of Him in our restless, endless people pleasing. Maybe we just know it’s a messy collision when concept meets reality, and we’re not up for jumping into that.

Yet I’m finding it’s so important to remember:

God is merely a concept to us until we actually confront Him.

God is merely a concept to others until we actually confront Him and others.

God is merely a concept, and reaching those around us is merely a concept, until we get messy, start struggling, start seeking, start moving.

I don't mean to use "confrontation" with a negative connotation; I simply mean coming face to face with all we believe, with Who we believe, and with others who challenge us for an explanation of faith. As Christians, our beliefs are not safe in the confines of our mind. Despite our fears and feelings of inadequacy, we are meant to share the hope we have.

There are a few reasons I've found that help explain why our faith is tempted to wilt when we confront it:

1. He fades instead of others. 

There's a quote by H. Lemmel that says: 

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace."

I love the way this puts it. The more fully we focus on Christ, the more our fears and inhibitions fade so we can more fully serve others. Yet when we meet someone who we want to impress, please or satisfy, compromise is often our immediate reaction. The person triggers a temptation in our hearts, and thus occurs the trap of people pleasing. Instead of "the things of earth" growing dim, Christ does, and we lose our way. It’s so easy for me to fall into, and maybe it is for you too. It completely blinds us from really listening to the desires of God’s heart, and even tricks us into thinking we're doing others a favor by dismissing our beliefs. We have to understand where others are at in their opposition, but not justify it. So when we meet and talk with people who are bitterly opposed to the gospel, we must understand where their hearts at, but not sweep our faith aside to justify it. At the end of the day, what good does that do them in their search for truth? It leaves them thinking the God you claim to believe in is a hollow concept not worth being lived out. 

I used to think think this intense focus on God hindered us from loving others, but it actually enhances it, making it all the more genuine! Even by laying our lives down for our brothers (1 John 3:16) and loving others wholeheartedly, God has to come first if our actions are to praise Him. The more we focus on Jesus, the more rooted we are, and the more we can love others.

2. We prepare without action in mind. When we read the Bible, we have to read it as a battle plan for our struggles. So often we read His word without soaking it up, discussing it as if it's just a nice concept, but the real value in His word comes from seeking how to apply His word in our lives. In 2 Corinthians 2:4, we learn that his "weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds" - but only if we take up those weapons into daily life! 

As we read and soak up His word, we learn to pray with our feet. So often God places verses in the Bible that we can only learn by beginning to live them out; He places prayers in our hearts that we can only learn the meaning of by beginning to prayerfully seek Him. Scripture has some beautiful concepts, but some even more beautiful calls to action. 

3. There are fears we have to walk out. They will never go away unless we begin to confront them. We won't always explain our faith perfectly, knowing the answers to all the hard questions someone might pose. And we'll never be able to boldly, truthfully explain our passion for Jesus with the promise that who is listening will like it. They likely won't - and among other fears, there are some that the more we roll them around on our tongues, the more we're stalling. These fears can all be crippling, but only until we begin walking and seeing how God shows up when we confront them.

4.We forget to reestablish ourselves in the joy we have. We have to remember how worth it our precious Jesus is. Looking back on my experience as a Christian, there are countless times that the gospel stepped on my toes, countless experiences of wrestling with it, because confronting Christ means giving up sinful pleasures, addictions, shields of defense and isolation. If it was hard for us, we have to remember that by showing someone the beauty of a relationship with Christ, we're inviting them to wrestle. In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with God all night. In our culture, it's popular to deem Christianity a nice, shallow concept of loving one's neighbor, helping the poor, being kind to others. Yet the Christianity we know is one that calls us to close contact with Christ, that calls us to wrestle, to step into action and beyond concept and live it out. This true Christianity is much more costly than culture says, but we have to remember how worth it that wrestling is. As Christians, we're still wrestling every day - but we've found the joy that makes it worth it, and we have to constantly call it to mind to keep our faith strong.

Months ago, I watched an interview of a man who had been blind for most of his life. He was getting ready for a surgery that would restore his eyesight, and in the weeks leading up to it, his friends began pouring out explanations of the beauties of gorgeous skies, striking animals, and his lovely girlfriend, which he would soon behold. After the surgery, when he could finally see more than amorphous shadows, he was absolutely stunned; he was beside himself. I forget his exact wording, but he continuously came back to the idea that what he imagined everything would be like - the flowers, people's faces, beautiful artwork - was hardly a fraction of the reality he saw.

So friends, take heart, for in many ways we're like that way. When we actively pursue Christ, our weakly constructed concepts of Him will shatter in light of His beautifully astounding reality. When we begin to boldly walk out our faith, the Truth will be a thousand times more fulfilling and true than we ever imagined.

"Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it." 

2 Corinthians 3:10