Struggling between our convictions and corruptions
Read Luke 18:18-19
18 Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus' reply:
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good.
I remember when I was a young boy, and how it wasn't uncommon for my Dad to say to me, usually in a fit of anger over some thing I'd messed up, "you're never going to amount to anything". As a child I was sure of one thing, I was not superhuman, and likely I was something less than human. In fact I had a very low esteem of myself. So many things in my personal life were unremarkable. If you asked me then what I thought about myself and my life I'd no doubt have nothing at all to say for myself. Likely I wouldn't have spoke a word. In those days I had very little to say about anything, and nothing good to report about my own abilities. I didn't think much about my future in those days, frankly I had no hope for a future at all. Far as I knew, I was rejected, weighed, and found wanting. Not just a victim of circumstances, but genuinely deficient. Just a no talent hack.
I literally had no plans at all for what I'd want to become when I grew up. Far as I knew there was no point in trying, after all I was never going to amount to anything anyway. I pretty much spent each day mindlessly reacting to my circumstances. I didn't even know I was supposed to want a future. I didn't know much at all. I was a blank page most of my childhood. I wasn't trying to find myself like was the trend for so many of my generation. I didn't know I was supposed to find myself. I didn't have hopes and dreams, most of my dreams were nightmares, terrifying mind games, horrible invisible threats trying to take me down. If I were to examine that young man then with what I know today about this life, I wouldn't hold out much hope for him and his future. On the surface, without ever getting to know that young man, I wouldn't see much good in his future. I wouldn't see much beyond my own interpretation of the evidence of his own actions (or inaction).
Truth is, in those days very few people saw much evidence for a future in me. A few saw something here and there. An art instructor saw an untapped talent and he tried to encourage me in that way. A music teacher heard singing talent and she tried to drag it out of me. Many teachers were time after time frustrated because I had abundant ability but no motivation to excel. I could learn effortlessly but refused to apply it. I could ace a test without studying but couldn't bother to complete assignments. I just went through most my days observing, and gathering information and never applying it to any good purpose. I loved listening, reading and learning in any way I could, but I never did anything with any of it. I just plain wouldn't bother, because it was never going to amount to anything.
In those early years I would never have asked Jesus-
“Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Not because I didn't believe or want to believe, but like everything else, I simply didn't know I should ask. Folks told me about Jesus. Some taught me about prayer and about confessions. Some told me to follow his commands. Others told me they didn't know why, just do it. Pretty much everyone I met in my young life told me about faith in one way or another, but none could explain to me why I should care about my future in Christ. They never tried to explain to me why Jesus was a good choice to make.
Let's take this question for today: “Why do you call me good?” How would you answer that? Why do you call Jesus good?
Jesus said what any pious Jew would say: “No one is good except one—God.”
Here's my answer to this question:
Over the years, from that mindless youth to the now mature and strong in faith grown man, I've learned that humans like to pick and choose heroes, and sometimes that includes Jesus. We idolize them so much that they become our surrogates, so that we live out our lives vicariously through them. We may not understand much about life or be very philosophically savvy, but they are. We may not know the answers to ever religious question, but they do. We’re plain and simple, they're sophisticated. And so, we sit back and watch like spectators as our heroes think, act, and speak up for us. Hero worship usually begins in the earliest stages of childhood, as children look up to their parents, but in my case I had no heroes. No mentorship. No one to whom I felt I could give up all my trust too. As children get older, they pick and choose their heroes from a wide range of possibilities. As far as I can tell, having heroes is a part of being, as long as we keep it in perspective. We all need role models to look up to, but there are major problems with this system. Our heroes inevitably turn out to have feet of clay. While their public image may seem to be ideal, their personal life is often a different story.
As a child I had no heroes, but one. I was excited about many great things people did or had done, but not so much about the persons themselves. I could appreciate great skills, talents, strengths and ideals, but I couldn't love on someone for these reasons, except for one. My childhood hero was our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln. As far as I was concerned, he was the epitome of all human good. I loved his words, his works and mostly his strength in choosing to do righteousness in the face of terrible consequences. I chose to see the world through his worldview, and by the measures he used to measure the future. Yes, he was indeed my hero. He set the standard for me as to how I would later learn and understand from the great philosophical and theological perspectives. And today I walk in the footsteps of Augustine, Luther, C.S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer, Tillich, Chaucer, Dickens, and multitudes of other great religious and philosophical thinkers. Not as if they are my heroes, or good, but I follow in their thoughts about our lifetimes and our futures. I take the good and leave behind the bad. I prune their teachings for shape and to encourage good uniform growth. These teachings aren't carved in stone, they're just written in hearts and minds that should never stop searching out the truth of it. Especially if they ever hope to amount to something.
So...what have I learned throughout this lifelong struggle between convictions and corruptions? I've learned that heroes are heroes because they show us something of ourselves that's found wanting. I've learned that mankind has failed to bring about peace and prosperity on planet earth, in all their global efforts mankind has failed. All the heroes have tried and failed, and so are they really heroes? All the leaders and great thinkers over the ages have made inroads, great enlightenments, and great achievements, but ultimately they've failed to complete. In fact you could say that they have never ultimately amounted to anything.
I've learned that only Jesus can fulfill all the longings of humanity. Jesus is just plain good enough to get it done. Why? Because he is God. And God is good. All the time. God is good. I don't see Jesus as a hero, I see him as Lord and Savior. I don't want Jesus to be my hero. I don't want to put him on a pedestal and form a Jesus fan club and call it church. He's above and beyond, superhuman, and yet still human. He made us all in his image and called that creation "very good". It's his nature that makes him good. And it was the image of his nature that was built into his creation, built into us. What they did with it however is the thing. Did they amount to anything? Did they have his character? If they did, did they keep to it? Like the rich young ruler, it’s a lot easier to pay deference to Jesus than it is to take up our own crosses and devote our lives to serving some common good for his sake.
Final truth:
Heroes come and heroes go, but “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.” His life, death, and resurrection has amounted to something that is beyond something. It's everything. He is everything. Alpha and Omega. His kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting.