Looking Up at the Lord is the Easiest Thing, Says Who?

I was at Church and someone was rendering Charles Spurgeon’s conversion this way… Charles Spurgeon as a young man, cared little for the Lord. Then one day caught in a snow blizzard Charles got into a church where a humble preacher spoke about Christians needing to look up that the Lord. Then the preacher looked straight at Charles and said, “young man you need to look at the Lord”. Apparently Charles had a moment of theophany that led him to commit his life to the Lord. The person continued… All Christ expects us to do is to just look up at Him. “It is such an easy thing to do, isn’t it?”

I sat there thinking…. Technically, looking up at the Lord is the easiest thing to do, I don’t even have to move a finger. But in reality it is the toughest thing to do. For, to look up at the Lord, we have to first take our eyes off the idols that draw our attention. And if anyone thinks that it is easy, I’ll probably want to meet that person and garner some wisdom. I constantly find my attention going to my books, my blogs, my facebook page, my Netflix movies, my time spent getting up to date on current affairs from the Debt Limit debate in the US to the '2G Scam' in India to the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Of course, none of these are wrong in themselves. But when they become distractions from looking up at the Lord they become captivating idols. That apart, I find a BIG part of my attention directed at my own self. I am my own idol. Taking my eyes off all of these idols and looking up at the Lord is not an easy thing to do. That is precisely why St. Augustine pleads in his Confessions, “Lord, keep thy countenance in front of mine eyes, always”.

To blithely assume that we can look up at the Lord because it is such an easy thing to do might be the most naïve self-assessment. We, ‘being human’, of the lineage of Adam and Eve, need to understand that our most basic proclivity is to hide from the Lord. Being modern we no longer have to ‘actually’ hide. This being an 'instant-gratifying' world, have so many idols to be en-capsuled within. Consequently, we can easily live in state of denial that the Lord exists at all. It is in cognizance of this sorry state of ‘being human’ that we need to make St. Augustine’s prayer our own, “Lord, keep thy countenance in front of mine eyes, always.” Looking Up at the Lord isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Transformers and the Cocky Christians

Watching Transformers – The Dark Side of Moon (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_dark_of_the_moon/) on IMAX 3D was a very descent visual treat. There wasn’t much of a story, if I had made that movie I would have fired those in-charge of the script. The Transformers movies are primarily about the Supernatural ‘Autobots’. But the script writer made the movie into something about the natural humans. In this case, it the human happens to be one Mr. Sam. Sam is cocky about making sure that everyone knows he is special because of his special relationship with the ‘Autobots’. He does not seem to realize that he  looks foolish doing that. Most jerks don’t. In truth, was the Transformers that actually saved planet Earth, Sam happened to be the ‘chosen one’ with whom they had a relationship.

In one of the scenes, at the Military base getting ready to ‘save the world’, Sam is not allowed to 'call his shots' because of lack of military credentials. His long legged girl friend steps in chiding the rank and file, “Sam is the real super hero, not you guys. You (lesser mortals) should be listening to him” I sat there thinking, “Really? So those beautiful virtuous Supernatural Autobots who ‘really’ did all the work to save planet earth aren’t the real Super heroes? This sissy of a guy who is insecure even around your stud of a boss, is a super-hero???” It is incredible how the script writers have tried to make the story that is about the ‘Autobots’ into a story that is about someone who just happens to be the ‘chosen’ messenger. Not to mention and have done a very bad job at it.

Looking back, this shouldn’t be that surprising. After all, this is human nature. People sharing witnesses at Church sometimes seem do the same thing. Christians, take God’s story and make themselves look good in it. Even when the testimony involves sharing something that is self effacing, at a deeper level the Christian if often working the story, twisting it to get more ‘self-branding’ mileage. Most of the time, the self-effacing brand builder covertly tries to show off how he/she is more intimate with the Lord or knows more about the Lord than the rest of the ‘lesser mortals’. We are prone to yield to such self-promoting attitudes because we often forget that we are Christians only because we have been ‘chosen’ to be a part of the Lord’s covenant community. We forget that Christ did ALL the work on the cross. We forget that there is no reason for us to boast. Every attempt we make to twist the Lord’s story to make it into one where we are super-heroes, we like Sam end up being the cocky Christian fools. If we are sharp, we’ll hear the Angels laughing from the stands. He who has ears…