Drinking from the Cup

Fallen.

Broken.

Lost.

We are in exile. In this fallen world full of pain and suffering, we are in exile. As C.S. Lewis explains it 

If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Another world.This is the promise Jesus made, that we will be born again, not into this world, but a perfect one. Born in sin, but soon to be reborn in a different world. We suffer now, but not for long. However, people try to run away from suffering. They look to Jesus as the way to avoid suffering in this world.

Yet Jesus did not come to banish suffering. But rather, he fully embraced it. Pain and suffering are not things that impose themselves on our lives, but are a part of life itself. Jesus tells us to “deny ourselves and take up the cross.” But somehow, this has been translated to “glorify yourself and wear a cross around your neck.” Why wear a cross on your chest if you don’t bear one on your back?

To our minds though it makes no sense to embrace the Passion. It strikes us as absurd to stare into the eyes of our own suffering, and embrace our anguish. Is the train that leads us to this other world really one of inescapable pain? It scares us to think that this suffering is a part of us. That it is profoundly real, and is eating away at our humanity and must be brought to light. The idea that in order to take up our cross, we must open ourselves to this sickness, become overcome by its crushing force, and then embrace the aftermath of the devastation, is not pleasing to most people. We ask for healing, but we don’t embrace the pain.

Perhaps the only way for true healing is to hold the cup of suffering high above your head, and let the rain fill it to the brim. Then, instead of dropping the cup and making a puddle of pain on the ground beneath your feet where the pain can be picked up and thrown at you again, you grasp the cup with two hands, bring it to your lips and gulp it down. 

Source: faithinflames.com

The Fears of Christianity

Do you fear death?

I recently proposed this question to a group of Christian students with every one of them answering ‘yes’. I asked them why? This was slightly harder for them to provide an answer for. In the end it was decided that it was the ‘fear of the unknown’ that was frightening about death. The question of ‘will it hurt,’ ‘how will it happen,’ ‘when will it happen,’ and ‘what will happen afterwards’ are all which were frightening to these students.

As I myself reflected on the fears of death, I began to think about what role fear has in Christianity. I came up with this statement:

That which the world tells us to fear most, Christianity tells us to fear least. In the same respect, that which Christianity tells us to fear most, the world tells us to fear least.

This applies to much more than death, although death is a good example, one I will explain later. Take money for example. The world says to fear poverty, avoid it at all costs. Christianity says to fear wealth, avoid it at all costs. 

The world says to fear war, Christianity says to fear peace. Christianity is fundamentally violent. The world isn’t too violent, the world isn’t violent enough. The world’s violence is that against flesh (beating a wife, killing a neighbor, etc.). The violence that the world lacks is a spiritual violence. We are called to make war, so to speak, against sin, against lust, against ourselves and our prideful and sinful nature. Why then, do so many people remain content to continue sinning? They aren’t too violent, rather they aren’t violent enough.

Now, let’s examine this thing we call death. Is it something to be feared? I believe that it is not. Rather, it is something to be embraced. There are far, far worse things in the world than death. Living a life without love is to be feared far greater than death.

If we as Christians were to attempt to reflect this idea that the very things we fear most, are to be feared the least, what would that look like? Perhaps we will find one of the greatest desires of our hearts, a purpose. When we look past the vapor of the world, we see an ever small glimpse of heaven beyond the mist. While it is too far away to fully grasp, we will find what truly is to be feared. In that moment we find fulfillment, we find God.

Source: faithinflames.com

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