Monday, May 18, 2015

Christ Is More: A Conversation about Joy and Faith




Why is Christianity worth integrating into my life when I'm fine as I am?

The greatest argument against this unanswered question is this

Christ is more:

Everything and anything we can and will base our lives off of is finite and will die away with us. Seasons come and go. Money is spent and must be earned by the work of human hands. Human hands fail everyday. Fail to love, fail to touch, fail to work by choice or by circumstance. We fail. All created things will fail. Even if the chances are low. Even when our lives are air-conditioned to the perfect degree of happiness, the thermostat can break any day and when it does we will be miserable as we swelter in the shelter of our own purposelessness. Which means our happiness was based on empty promises in the first place. We believed the things we thought would satisfy us would never fail. And if they do, in our lifetimes, we are proved utterly wrong, until we run to the newest lie that enraptures us in its facade of invincibility. Or we die asleep to the looming reality watching us above our heads.

The only exception to this is the belief in a god who will never fail to satisfy, who will endure forever, and who is all-powerful.
In many ways, it's easier to have faith, so that you have some some sort of security when  the resources of happiness are depleted and our world is shaken to its very foundations.
Although having faith does make things easier, it is no way a cop- out to reality. Unlike an attitude of unrealistic, untethered optimism, much like that criticized in Candide, that everything happens for a reason with no questions asked, the Gospel makes room for our pain, considering Christ feels it with us and walked in our shoes. Some pain is utterly unreasonable. Not only can we trust that our God has a greater plan, but also that our loving Father knows how we feel, is with us in the midst of it and will lovingly walk with us every step of the way- our constant help in trouble.
Having faith also doesn't necessarily makes our lives safer, If we trust and believe that God loves us and will ultimately bring us joy, should we choose to trust him, we cheerfully give up the tight control we have on our thermostats. We have to be prepared to give up the things we love in order to love him. Should God choose to lead Peter to walk on the water, Peter won't have the safety of land, but he will have confidence in the love of God, more constant than the shifting of continents. All God is and all God plans for is for our good and his glory- that we may know him for who he is. And who is he? Who is God? God is Christ. Christ is more. More than perfectly monitored lives guaranteed to satisfy our hunger for true joy until they don't. More than the the finite promises of the things we love, and more satisfying than the the things we crave. More than unrealistic optimism. More than a warm cradle of safety. More than enough.

For believers and nonbelievers, this song has stuck a chord with many people, including me, whether they walked out believing in Christ or not, after listening. And, it's also just good music.

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”- C.S. Lewis

1 comment:

  1. This is an interesting article. Thanks for sharing. I liked your blog this semester.

    ReplyDelete