“God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.” Clive Staples Lewis said that. Smart guy.
This last month has seen the gods of this world plummeting from Mount Olympus. The church wasn’t the only place where abuse was a problem. That much is clear today. For decades we have heard of the Hollywood couch. But this is different. Even good, wholesome dudes like Matt Lauer, a husband and dad and two decade cornerstone of the Today show has been exposed as being an unfaithful man. Men who take advantage of their power and money and use it to get what they want from women. Horrible stuff. Meryl Streep thanked “God” in an acceptance speech just a couple of years ago. She clarified that she meant Harvey Weinstein.
My wife commented on the news of Matt Lauer’s firing with the comment, “This isn’t gonna stop.” And she is right.
The deal is this.
Every human institution is falling apart. It was inevitable. All the self-worship and fan-worship of the gods of this world is showing itself to be the vain and empty thing it is. Without Christ and his heart-changing power, the evil of men is going to be constantly exposed. Men are evil. This isn’t gonna stop. All twenty five million a year did for Matt Lauer was give him the delusion that he could get what he wanted and get away with it. His heart has been exposed through his actions. A long time ago the Bible said that we will reap what we sow. If we plant carrots we are gonna get carrots. That’s the way it works. And when we sow selfishness we reap self-destruction. Can you imagine how Matt’s wife and children feel? It ain’t worth it. All we do is end up destroying everyone we love with our selfishness. I know many, many people who have absolutely shredded their lives and those they love by following their heart’s desires. The problem is the heart is messed up and so is the desire that comes out of it.
Jesus is saving the world. But in order to do that the pride of men must fall. It is the wall up that keeps out the joy and love and peace of God. I’m talking about the kind of life that Jesus said He would bring to those who want it. A whole, lasting, firm, steady, pure, happy life built on real, solid love that He brings to the hearts of those who want it. He said he would bring life that is life to the full. The maximum.
All the castles of men built on the sand of their selfishness, lust and greed are falling down. Only a life built on the Rock who is Christ will be the solid, long-lasting existence that we all really long for.
Jesus kind of knew what He was talking about.
So. Dismantle the stupid walls of pride and greed and selfishness and power now. Take it down. Ed Stetzer this week said, “if the institutions of Hollywood, politics or the church are building walls to protect those who abuse at the expense of those who are being victimized, we need to take those institutions apart...brick by brick.”
The only way to rebuild society the way it should be, the way we all know it should be deep down in our souls, is to take it all down and then rebuild it.
Apparently it is all falling apart on its own anyways.
It starts with humility. We have to come to God as we are and admit that we haven’t got it all together. We have to admit we are selfish. We have to come to the Cross where Jesus died and say, “Forgive me and remake me.”
When Dallas Willard paraphrased John 3:16 he worded it this way:
God’s care for humanity was so great that He sent his unique Son among us. Every who builds their life on him will no longer have a futile and failing existence but will have the undying life of God himself.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to lead a futile and failing existence. I want a strong and happy life that withstands what this world throws at it.
So come unraveled. Let the walls fall down. Rebuild on Christ.
You’ll be glad you did.
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