Yeah, baby!
When I look at the bookmark here at chapter 20, it appears we're actually making some headway. While I am enjoying the journey, for sure, I do like to finish books. Today's "Bring your daughter to work day" at HM Magazine. My youngest is here with me ... and she's already finished her schoolwork for the day -- before 10am. Nice. I was glad to see her with her school books all spread out in front of her as soon as she arrived -- without a word from me -- studying instead of playing computer games. That's a good sign of self discipline, delayed gratification, and motivation. It's also "Transcribe that Chris Cornell interview day."
ENTRY #20: Like A Kiss On The Face
When I see the title for this chapter, I'm thinking, 'Oh, he's going to talk about the definition of worship, which some scholars say is "to kiss toward" or "to kiss the face of." As I read on, I never came across that definition. What I found was a story of a woman named Ann, who's earliest memory is being screamed at as a three year old. She thought she was unloved at birth. She married an abusive man, who was out with another woman shortly after the birth of her second child. On a rainy night at 2am, she looked out the window and thought of ways to kill him or herself, etc. She spoke to God, telling Him that if this was all there was to life, there was no point to living. She asked God to show Himself to her ... if life mattered to Him at all.
She went into the basement and found an old Bible. As she read it, God proved Himself to her. As she read about the anguish of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, she recognized love. She understood that God did it all for love. It's so amazing and cool that she recognized it when she saw it ... and she was able to see it in the simple words on a printed page. Jesus had a dark night of the soul that night. I remember being both crushed and set free by that passage of Scripture myself. I was in the process of being crushed in spirit and heart over and over again by my affections for this girl. I felt so heartbroken and lonely, but the phrase: "My soul is overhwelmed with sorrow to the point of death." I realized that He experienced gut-wrenching pain and that He could totally relate and empathize with my pain. From then on, His comfort to me seemed much more real, because my understanding of His empathy towards me wasn't hollow and weak. It was real. He was there. He'd been through it.
Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss on the face. What's cool about the love of God is that it is truly unconditional. I try to think I love unconditionally, but one of the conditions I'll often attach to love is being appreciated. God's love endures even in the face of no positive feedback, no love back, no appreciation, not even a "Thank you."
"Yet his love is undeterred.
He still pursues us with his relentless compassion.
God is the passionate lover of humanity.
He created you for love.
You cannot live without love, and you do not have to.
Yes, there is an insanity to love. You will go mad in pursuing it.
You will despise life itself if you do not find it.
Your soul craves love and will find satisfaction with nothing less.
You shouldn't be surprised that as you look for love, you keep running into God.
Listen to your soul. You have not given yourself to a futile search.
You are not alone in your pursuit.
Love searches for you."
That is so cool. God's love is real and personal. It's not fake, like those bogus junk emails I get about a Russian woman looking for love, promising to send me photos if I email her. The big problem with empty promises like that is that the message is sent as if it's a personal note, but the same message is sent to millions of email addresses at the same time. I feel sorry if there is anyone that believes that Sasha is actually writing a personal note to him.
One other thing that jumps out at me from this chapter is a passing comment McManus makes about Jesus' cruel death:
"On a cross, Jesus of Nazareth hung naked and beaten for love."
The image we have of Jesus hanging on the cross always features a loin cloth. This is really for our benefit, because it would be hard for us in the civilized Western culture to look at a symbol like that with a naked man hanging on a cross. My reference is only what I've read, but I've read that men were crucified naked. Sometimes their genitals were pierced with a spear to torment them more. It made their cruel capital punishment even more humiliating. He could not cover himself up with modesty. He was made a public spectacle. It's not pretty to think of Jesus hanging naked on a cross, but it's probably a more accurate picture. It's ugly. And it should be. There's great beauty in the act, but on the surface it is incredibly ugly and brutal.
How strong is the love of God?
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at September 10, 2007 09:00 AM