The Good, the Better and the Best

[HKHaugan]

The Good, the Better and the Best

 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859).” 

It's the opening of a classic novel published 158 years ago.  It could very well have been an editorial written by any of today’s respected social commentators.  It describes the secular atmosphere surrounding the French Revolution (1789-99) and centers in on several characters and their conflict at that time.  Social conflict and division mar every culture and call the individuals in them to discover their true reality, the division that lies within each individual, between good and evil, sin and God. 

 In the present we are in the throes of clashing political and social highs and lows.  Our social, physical and spiritual weather patterns are at their peaking opposite poles.  Individuals feel the torrential pounding of media opinion, emotional reaction and the frustration of powerlessness in their midst.  National values and their goals, which used to have a common grip on our senses, have been shredded by mindless violence.  The three monkeys’ reluctant sight, sound and voice reign in the tempest.  Refusal to share ideas, see one another as valued persons and listen to the hearts pleading for a better way, come from the pit of lost spirits directed by the evil one.  We are always under attack from the darkness in which those of a violent, emotional and anti-spiritual bias wallow and don’t even know it. 

 In a secular atmosphere, there is a modified approach---the good, the better and the best as opposed to the bad, the worse and the worst.  The attitudes built there are a result of the pressure from those triple opposites.  It’s that secular pressure on our hearts that sin uses to compromise us.  We want to do and be the best but the pull is to depend on our surface perceptions, heartless ideals and media influence exploiting our insecurities as we search for meaning in the acceptance of others in any given moment.  It’s the difference between strength and weakness, day and night, diving in and staying out, being all in and being all out, totally in fear and totally in courage, giving and taking, waking and sleeping, being a somebody and being a nobody and the compromised in-between variations.  Everyone is more conscious of their aloneness than ever before thus our broken unity.  Individuals find either a source of external spiritual reality or they crumble under the weight of inner anxiety and those anxious moments become the immobilizing enemy.  Briefly described, it’s called the world.  Enter, the Lord Jesus.  As disciples of Jesus, we have a source that transcends the world and He is the Who and what we are called to share.

 Jesus puts it clearly, “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Mt.7:13-14).”   When Jesus was making that statement, He was talking about Himself as the gate and His lifestyle of faith and love as the narrow road that brings eternal life which He gives to all who are willing to accept Him.  He came to give us new life, His life, spiritual life through the Holy Spirit, and to give it in abundance.  The best of times is always the presence of Jesus in the heart. He is the good, the better and the best.  The worst of times is always the world without God.

 So, our adaptability to circumstance ultimately depends not on what but Who we choose to follow.  Take love for instance.  Look at that word closely.  What does it evoke in you?  Is it emotion, sentimentality, romance, liking someone, attraction, having a kind attitude, good intentions overriding the bad, in other words---self-definition?  For example, when you’ve seen Casablanca for the fifth time and Sam plays “As Time Goes By”, is what you feel really love or a wish to experience the feeling that scene evokes?  Apply that to any movie, book or play with their so-called love scenes or to any reminiscent relational experience.   Are they really love?  Who really defines it in truth?  When the song “My Love is Here to Stay” says, “it lasts forever and a day”, does it?  How do you know?

 What a human being declares in one moment can change in the next.  That’s why we need a person who has not only been loving but gives the word an entirely new experience, a new way of sharing, a new relational attitude unlike anything man conceived.  An objective external gift with an eternal definition, that can actually live in the heart.  That’s why the risen Jesus is the picture we put on the wall of our heart.  Jesus is the all-the-time loving person.  His first love is His Father.  Everything He did in His life was to do what He knew would please His Father.  He didn’t have to think about it.  He just did it.  So, obeying His Father’s will was His nature.  Loving was automatic with Him.  The Cross of Jesus is not a picture of morbid depression but the exact image of the love of God expressed for the lost humanity He came to restore.  The Resurrection of Jesus is the love of God promising the same to us.

 Love is just a word until we see someone do it, do it not because they are making the effort to do it, but doing it because they can’t help doing it.  It’s who they are.  That’s the love Jesus brings.  He not only defines it, He lives it, He is love and broadens its meaning to cover every human activity.  God’s love is defined by Jesus and is applied to every area of relational life.  Marriage, family, professions, education, economics, friendship, athletics, social groupings, whatever structures bring people together; these are the places we are called to bring Jesus’ love.

 Jesus demonstrates His love in His every encounter recorded in the Bible.  From His heart concern for the woman caught in adultery to the confrontation of the moneychangers in the Temple, wherever you find Him, He is showing this new love that counters the world’s self-centered definitions.  His reprimand When Peter calls us to “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins (1Peter 4:8),” he is saying God’s love can forgive and override whenever, wherever and with whomever we sin.  God’s love is given us at the moment we give Him the moment and let Him direct the moment.  From in the home to on the job to our alone time to…well, name it, you’re covered.

 Now the Word shows us that Jesus’ love is a new love, new to people and new to the whole world atmosphere and new to every person born.  Jesus said, “A new command I give you: love one another.  As I have loved you so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (Jn.13:34).”  His love is new in the newness of every new moment.

 The miracle of Jesus is, that by faith, He loved perfectly in a human body like ours. 

 Consider Lincoln’s statement about fooling people, but, with a slightly different twist, ‘You can love some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but you can’t love all the people all the time.’  But Jesus did and does. That’s precisely why we believe Him, trust Him and act in faith for Him.  If we follow Him in every next moment His Spirit works through us and He is the One who is seen.  He is the miracle of faith, hope, love, grace and truth, all revealed in His human body.  When Jesus died for His Father, His Father had Him raised from the dead. It was the Holy Spirit being the Spirit of love that raised Him.  It was His love for His Father that made us the objects of His love.  His desire is that we know the Father like He does. That’s why He sent the Holy Spirit. The way He showed His love for His Father was to obey Him through faith.  The Father’s will for us is that we obey His Son.  That’s how we know we love Him. 

 This brings us to the real completion of the good, better and best.  Before, we said faith was good, faith in Jesus is better and faith to follow Him in every next moment was best.  Let’s amend that a bit.  Belief in Jesus is good (for the mind). Trust in Jesus is better (for the heart).  Faith in Jesus for action in every next moment is best (for our spirit’s motivation).  The good leads us to the better and the better leads us to the best.  Perhaps I’m playing with words here but this is the way to understand attitude and allow His attitude to shape ours.  The present world of conflict is our territory and His attitude in our hearts is the one-on-one message entrusted to each of us to share.  That’s how the world is reconciled to God.