Why does self-sacrifice resonate so well inside of the human soul? I mean, think about it, the most heinous of crimes throughout history are basically selfish acts and the most praiseworthy and honorable traits and actions are self-sacrificial. There is power in one human beings giving of themselves for the sake of another. It’s quite inevitable that I look to Christ to see the greatest example of this sacrifice of self, and I stand in awe of it, but a peculiarity worth noting is the itch in my heart to see actions of self sacrifice and be a person who acts and gives self sacrificially.
John Eldredge says that in movies the things that stir us most are things our hearts long for and desire. Tonight even, watching a kids movie, “How To Train Your Dragon,” in one of the final scenes (spoiler alert) the main dragon sacrifices himself and dives into a vast gulf of flame and almost certain death in order to do anything he can to save his master. This scene sent shivers down my spine, tugged at the strings of my heart. There are more stories than this, stories of people giving beyond what they can, stories of martyrs dying for others, stories of people running into flaming buildings because there is the possibility that someone is still inside. This is honor; this is courage; this is valor, to lay down one’s life for another’s. It is as if God had written this law into us, this law of self-sacrificial love; which, if obeyed brings true peace, joy and contentment, but if disobeyed or broken brings pain, unsettledness and discontent. You know this to be true, don’t you? I know I do.
Thus continues Christ’s act of sacrifice, echoing through the ages. For grace reaches, perpetually. Redemption acts, continually. Restoration breathes in and exhales wholeness, newness… life. This is the very call to honor, the very deep crying to deep, resonating and resounding in the deepest fathoms of our hearts. His act is the statement of freedom, the pronouncement of life abundant for all of His sons and daughters. But, consequently, it too is the mandate for you and I to go and do likewise. So, may you… further, may I… answer this call to give up and give of ourselves.
The past can suffocate the present, the future can blind the present and in the present you cannot easily forget the past and stop thinking of the future. This is my experience during the past 2 months. It started with focusing too much on the future.
Dreams and aspirations, I think, have always run high in the idealistic minds of college graduates. I was looking forward to future career, future marriage, and future place to live. Looking forward, like looking through binoculars down the road while driving, so what was around me was completely blurred or blinded. You see, while focused so much on the future you aren’t able to dream in the present. To dream in the present you have to be fully present; passionate about where you are, and aspiring to be a better you in whatever situation you are placed in or have decided to go. However, straining for the future can only doom the present.
I forgot about my life then and there. I forgot about simply being who I expected myself to be in the future. Righteousness didn’t matter, for I would be righteous; happiness didn’t matter, for I would be happy; worse yet, wholeness didn’t matter, for I would be whole. As I said, it can only doom the present, and doom my present it did. Everything fell apart; though, probably for good reason. Even though it completely messed with me, it also humbled me; this caused me to think about who I am and what I am doing. After this crashed down on my head, it felt as if I had nowhere to go. After my relationship evaporated before my eyes, I was completely broken; I didn’t do much but cry and think about what happened and why.
This was a problem though, because I began to agree with the doubts that had been circling around in my head for so long. Doubts that stated I am no good, that I will never be anything, that I am a low-life hypocrite, etc… These, however, wouldn’t be all that bad should they have been based in and stayed in the past; if I would have thought that I was no good or I was a low love. Now those thoughts had leaked and leeched their way into the present.
I feel the need to get a little philosophical here, in order to help myself understand these events. The present, though only a moment, is still a part of life. The present carries the same weight as the past and the future. I have heard it said that we are to live in the present, that the past has passed and the future will come inevitably – so don’t worry about it. I cannot forget though that the past and the future play into the present. The “past” is a culmination of all of our stored memory; the places we have been, the things we have seen, the people we have met and all of the experiences there in. The “future” is a summation of our hopes, desires, dreams and aspirations which haven’t had the dissatisfaction of being thwarted by upset and pain or even had the satisfaction of being assured and added too by triumph and courage; the future hasn’t happened, but it is just as real – whether that is idealistically or pessimistically.
What makes the present different is that it is, at it’s nature, an act. Every moment and instance of the present is full of things to do, and choices to be made. This is the beauty of the present. Only in the present do you have the active sense that you can do or be and act accordingly. The present is power to the uttermost, it is the apparent ability of taking your own fate into your own hands; being who you want to be, acting as you want to act. But then you remember the past, you see your actions, you see the path you have been on; while at the same time you discern the future, and think that you are to continue on that same path as dictated by your past. And with that, as Thoreau states, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” we become convinced that we no longer have a choice.
This, simply is not true. Even Thoreau continues, “When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism is the chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means of life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear. It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” Every moment, as we can see in the definition of a moment, is new and capable of something new. Every moment is capable of great good or great evil, but to disregard the capability of good or bad, every moment is simply and beautifully capable.
I have been stuck on this for the past 2 or 3 months, because i have struggled to believe this. That my past does not dictate the present, nor does my presumed future inhibit the present.
Do you see the magnitude of this??? (Do i see it, for that matter?) This is the promise of redemption that you and I have received from God, that we are not our past; that Israel is not doomed in it’s sin; that Paul is no longer the Pharisee he once was; that peter is no longer resigned to run from responsibility or cower in fear; that you and I are not lost, that we are not abandoned, that we are not beyond hope, not beyond restoration and redemption. Christ has cleansed and sanctified the past, and has given hope and dreams for the future; thus he redeems you and I here and now.
If i have made mistakes, and made them i have, they do not have any bearing on the present. If i have had victories, and victories i have had; they do not have any bearing on the present. This God given present is outside of everything I know because I have the ability to be who i have longed to be for so long, if only i choose to act, decide to be.
Here and now is new. Here and now is different, yet the same as every other moment. You have never been who you are here and now. And you do not have to be who you were there and then. This is the fullness of redemption, the extent of restoration that God offers us.
"...for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for i have redeemed you." - Isaiah 44:21b-22
What do you think?
What is redemption?
To what is it’s extent?
Is this true for you? Rather, have you seen it or experienced it in your life?
Redemption.
