Yesterday my family relaxed with a little birthday cake to watch a movie. The movie the birthday girl chose was “God’s not dead.” I’ve wanted to watch it for years but honestly couldn’t get past my ambivalence toward having to hear the same tired, dark and angry “no God” arguments that have infested this world. So glad that on this day the darkness lost. I only wish I had gotten past it sooner. Watch this movie!
This movie experience was, however, bittersweet. The reason? Many years ago we invited someone into our family who was raised in a far from perfect or even good family environment. This family environment with all its negatives had a great positive, the children learned their Bible. Along with the bad they were exposed to what God had to offer. Sadly, as we are taught, “knowledge” is not “wisdom.” So this particular daughter had a knowledge of God and proceeded to live her life acting out that knowledge. Since bringing her into our family we’ve worked hard to help her see the true value of a personal commitment to and relationship with God. All this time she expressed a desire to have that relationship, but never seemed to succeed in achieving it. She was a great performer though. Not only could she convince us she was building this relationship, she convinced herself as well. However, the truth would always reveal itself in one of two ways. Her enthusiasm for doing the right thing knew no bounds so long as it resulted in her being the center of positive attention; as soon as the attention was gone, her interest would suddenly fade. The second “tell” was her lack of willingness to ever do or stand for what was right if there was any risk of negative personal impact.
After ten years of the same cycle with no observable growth, we finally came to the heart breaking conclusion that she has the knowledge, she understands the choice but chooses not to make the commitment. It is now beyond doubt that she either does not want to make the sacrifice in the way she lives or she does not believe in the benefit of the relationship with God. In reality, it’s probably both. With this inescapable truth we had to love her enough to stop playing along with the deception and put the burden of this choice on her. To continue to soften the reality of her choices would only make it easier for her to never truly commit. As Christians we believe that not making and living a commitment to God comes with a terrible and eternal personal price. Love would do all it could to save her from this fate. But all the love in the world cannot replace “free will” and make that choice for her. So we exposed the lies of her life. The lies about the way she lived. The lie that she didn’t know better. The lie that she “wanted God” but just didn’t know how. Most importantly, the lie that she can always commit tomorrow.
Back to the movie. Shortly after we started, she arrived and watched the movie with us. As the movie progressed and various scenes would play out, I found myself glancing her way (unnoticed by her) hoping to see signs of impact. Every time my hopes were dashed. She couldn’t have been sleeping because her foot would bounce and her head would bop when a tune would play. Then we got to this scene.
As I heard this sweet old lady begin to speak I could hear the many, many conversations we have had. I gazed across the room to see her sister looking for a flicker of revelation (again unbeknown to her). I mean you couldn’t write a better one-minute summary of the hours of tearful discussions we have had with her than what is present in this one scene. From our vantage point, however, we were still in the “all you can do is pray” mode.
This is not written to embarrass or shame her. As a matter a fact, it is not written for her at all. I write this for everyone who reads this. For all the people who have it good and say, “What does God have to offer?” For all those who have not had anyone spend one minute, much less years, trying to help you see the “bars.” Your life may be “comfy,” but don’t make the same mistake as she did and assume that a good life is always the result of God’s blessing. As the nice lady says, it might just be someone else making it easy to lie to yourself. You know “All Nice & Comfy,” until the door slams shut! “Just A Thought”
04/03/2016 Scott Caughel