Intersections: Faith and Culture
Intersections: Faith and Culture
Following Jesus Into Real Life
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February means Valentine's Day. Expectations run high for many. Others, from previous experience, may expect nothing. What's a disciple of Jesus supposed to do with this holiday?
Snowed-in Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s is one of those cultural traditions that can be absolutely wonderful or completely awful.
I’d say being snowed in this year moves the needle toward “less than wonderful” for many.
We’ve had this “ideal” circumstance built up in our minds of what makes both a great Valentine’s experience. We tend to do the same to all of our relationships, but particularly marriage.
We look for that ideal mate who can every need we have without having to be told. For life to be like every Disney movie - they live happily ever after but they never get around to describing what that “ever after” looks like.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the reality that most of us experience. It’s just possible in this old world.
Life is a series of ups and downs, victories and disappointments.
The good news for Christians is that we’re not supposed to be perfect but we are called grow in our relationships.
So we start in a place that might feel too comfortable, but it’s necessary to facilitate healthy relationships.
We Are Flawed, But Redeemed
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
As Christians, we know that God’s Word gives human beings their true value and character.
Scripture is where we find out how God sees us, and his all-knowing view gives married believers a great starting place for seeing and accepting each other.
From the Bible, we get a mixed view of ourselves. People are good, because they are created by God in his image (Genesis 1–2).
Yet, not one human being has measured up to God’s holy standard (Romans 3:10–12, 23).
Fortunately, God redeemed us through Christ’s death, putting the righteousness of Jesus on every believer. So, without deserving it at all, we have been made worthy of friendship with God.
Who we are before God is reality, and truthfulness about our flaws and forgiveness for each other form a basis for real, lasting unity in marriage.
Also, let me offer this encouragement.
God makes everything beautiful in its time.
1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. 14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.
God is not laboring under any delusions about what life is like for us.
He knows we’re flawed, and he knows our world is a fallen and difficult place.
In this passage from Ecclesiastes, King Solomon creates a poetic list that encompasses nearly all of human experience, including moments of devastating loss as well as triumphant exuberance.
Then he says with bedrock confidence in God’s sovereign goodness, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
If we believe that God is in perfect control of our life and times—no matter how hectic, frenzied, or pressured the days may seem to us—we know that we can trust him.
We know that we don’t have, and won’t have, perfect control of our daily lives.
An old song says we “trust and obey, for there’s no other way.”
In this fallen world, where our days fluctuate widely between joy and suffering, God is in control, working “all things together for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).
11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.
God made us for relationships.
9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
God is three-in-one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect relational unity (John 10:30), and human beings are created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27).
So our human capacities to love, empathize, nurture, encourage, and forgive all derive directly from God’s character.
God provided this excellent inheritance on purpose, so that we would enjoy the magnificent blessing of fellowship—camaraderie and teamwork in this life.
One of the most meaningful ways that Christians understand and receive God’s love is through accepting the love and friendship of others.
You were made for relationship. You glorify God and his character—and make the most of his gifts—as you live your life in productive and effective teamwork, with the comfort of each other.
God provides relationship ideals that really work.
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
God’s relationship parameters prove that he understands that Christians need equipment for dealing with each other’s imperfections, weaknesses, and failures.
Verses 12–17 encourage believers to “put on” compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and—above all—love. These relationship “ideals” bear little resemblance to the perfect married people depicted in our culture's description of the ultimate Christian married couple. The relationship ideals of Colossians 3 come into play in the real, everyday, rubber-meets-the-road, nitty-gritty of your life.