Diabolical, Delusional or Divine

“For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.” Acts 4: 11-12

My Abba, 

Scriptures like this one don’t leave much philosophical wiggle room. It occurs to me again that Jesus was absolutely diabolical, delusional, or divine.

Either, he was evil incarnate with full awareness that he was asking people to sacrifice themselves for a lie. Or, he was a stark raving madman with no grasp of reality. Or, he was telling the truth about who he was. Since nothing else in his life screams monstrous or bonkers, the evidence supports the reality that he is God, and what he says is true.

So here is my issue. I am awkward and flustered when I talk about you in the presence of those who don’t have any interest in you, find the idea of you a fond fantasy, or, even, dangerous snake oil. I sense the ill-fitting skates of my self-esteem scuffing around on the pitted ice of our culture.

I feel secure when I am up front speaking to a group of people who are not confronting me. I speak. They don’t. There is that protective moat of civility that flows between the crowd and me. But when it is a casual conversation between a few people, I don’t feel the freedom to talk about you, in the same way. I think I want you, and my ideas about you, to be liked.

 Please forgive me for the times I have dishonored you by trying to please people. I don’t want the soot of my sin to obscure “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Please give me the courage to speak the truth about you in love, no matter, what the context or who is present.

I love you,

Mollie

My child,

You want to avoid conflict and disapproval. You don’t deny me. But in certain instances, you try to dress me in trendy camouflage and tuck me in your handbag.

You want to disguise me, so they might find me easier on the eyes, more affable, and manageable. I am infinitely too big and wild to fit in the tiny niches where people prop up their other “gods.”

Phrases like “no one else” and “no other name” chafe the egos of many people. But what is my choice? Should I tell lies about myself, so I can validate the fickle currents of humanity’s wayward tide? My love does not eradicate what is right and wrong. And humans don’t get to make up the rules along the way.

 I will only speak truth. And many times, people won’t like it. So it follows, if you speak truth about me, the majority of people won’t like the message or the messenger, either. You need to accept that my truth will not make you popular. It blows minds, constructs, and plans. Most people are not fond of relinquishing the ideological skyscrapers they have erected for themselves.

Plunge into my glorious presence today! I will give you the words and ways to be an overflowing channel of my magnificent grace. I offer my grace to those who long to immerse themselves in it and to those who may still want to sit on the shore.

 I love you,

Abba

photo: choate