I
walk into a hospital room to visit someone who just went through major surgery
and say, “Hi! How are you?” Reflexively, he responds, “Fine, thanks,”
regardless of much pain he is in or how worried he is about his prognosis.
I
hug someone at the funeral home as she stands grief-stricken beside the casket
and ask, “How are you doing?” Choking
back her tears, she replies, “Good, and you?”
I
see a social media post from a family that I know is going through a
crisis. It’s a picture of smiling, happy
faces with the caption “Life doesn’t get any better than this!”
Almost
instinctively, we try to put on a good appearance. We want the world to think that our lives are
happy and beautiful, no matter what struggles we may be enduring. Maybe we’re afraid that others will reject us
or think less of us if they know about our troubles. We might think it’s a sign of weakness to
admit to any problems. Perhaps by
disguising our difficulties we don’t have to admit to ourselves that we have
them. Then we can blissfully ignore
them, hoping somehow we can muddle through life anyway.
God
wants so much more for us than a happy façade over a troubled life, or a
cheerful smile that masks a breaking heart.
Consider, for example, how the Bible presents its main characters. Moses is a murderer. David is a philanderer. Elijah is a coward. Jeremiah is a chronic complainer. Peter is an unreliable loud-mouth. Paul is a self-righteous jerk. These aren’t heroes to idolize. These aren’t sanitized saints to admire. These are real people, with all their faults,
sins, doubts, and emotions on full display.
The Bible does not give us a pantheon of role models; it shows God working
with real people.
God
sees us for who we really are, and not for the cleaned-up version we want to
show to world. We cannot bring our
brokenness to him for healing and comfort if we try to hide it from him. We cannot experience the fullness of his
powerful love when we believe he will only love the positive parts of who we
are. Our good news is that God accepts,
welcomes, and enjoys our whole being without reservation.
Consider
how God presented himself to us through Jesus Christ. He shared our lives at their most vulnerable
points. He was born in a strange place
far from home and had enemies from the very start. He grew up in an impoverished region with an
unremarkable family. He had no formal
education or wealth. He was tortured to
death while being humiliated to all passers-by, while his closest friends
deserted him.
If
God wanted to win our devotion by impressing us, he went about it all
wrong. But if he had, we would think
that we had to measure up to his standards. He would accept us only if we were
as good as him. But God is not seeking
people who are perfect. He seeks us in
our sin, our weakness, our bad days.
Because it then that he can demonstrate the fullness of his love and
grace.
