I’ve had the stone-on-my-heart, dry-mouthed desire to be
among the cool kids and I’ve felt the electrical exhilaration of being on top of
the world. Too often, I’ve paid too much for a minute of worship and been too unkind when in a position to give
mercy. There were certainly times in my life that I believed being fashionable,
trendy and altogether hip was the skeleton key to unlocking this bastard life.
And, surely, that’s what Jesus wants for me.
We see the popular jerk getting the girl we have pined after
and prayed for and we think they must know a secret. Because the stalwart, kind
and loveable loser loses once again. The obviously idiotic get the attention
and money, while the level-headed pre-planners are left in the dust with naught
but a pat on the back. The slacker knows the band, and you can barely see them
from the back row. It’s no wonder we think there is some hush-hush path to victory
that involves a heaping helping of popularity and some mystical mix of self-aggrandizement.
A Second Path
There’s no doubt that the above behavior wins hearts and
minds, builds empires and inspires t-shirts. But it just as often, later,
crushes souls, levels lives and quiets the crowds. But, for some, even a shot
at that brief explosion in the sky, that momentary firework of faux love and periodic
adulation is worth whatever silent fall might come after. And that’s a choice
you can make. One is most certainly capable of selling one’s soul for a few
minutes with a tight body, a Scrooge McDuck volume of cash and a front-row
seat. But there is a second path.
Some will misunderstand because of its radical nature, so it’s
hard to explain, but be sure that it isn’t a place where tired zeros come to
die. It’s where those tired of the chase after temporal immortality come. It is
where cool may or may not be achieved
in the eyes of the world, but it certainly isn’t the point, and is kept up long
after its fashionable. It’s the place
Jesus wanted us all along—a simple life, marked by love and peace with
others.
It’s a world where the stalwart, kind and loveable loser is
lauded.
It’s where those reckless at handing out their love aren’t
seen as weak, but people to emulate.
It’s where the guy who knows the band gives up his front row
seat so that light can shine one someone else who needs it.
The Key to Life
The key to life isn’t yet another orgasm that leaves you
empty an hour later. It’s not the roar of the crowd that causes the deafening
silence to be unbearable when you lie in bed that night. It just isn’t a
band-aid, a quick fix or an unending series of fillers for that deep, dank hole
in our chest. It’s Jesus. If you define yourself by your success; get your
self-worth from others, you’re going to crash face-first into defeat.
There’s nothing wrong with being on top, but the world is a
heartless turning wheel with no conscience. Life is a bastard, and, sometimes,
so am I. I can’t trust the universe to guide me, or you to always care. I can’t
trust my cool to stay all that cool for very long. But God offers his second way to those weary of the work of
achieving cool. So, when I trust in Him, letting His perfect love define me and
my self-worth, I don’t have to get those things from you, and I can finally
have a balanced, real relationship with you. When I see that life is a gift to
live in thankfulness, not a mystery to frustrate me, I don’t need your
applause.
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