I have a very dear friend who is not a Christian. She is one of the most supportive and kind friends I have. I could spend this whole post just talking about how I love her and respect her, even if she and I disagree on religion. I can honestly say that she has never been anything but supportive and encouraging, always pushing me on even when I've talked with her about how frustrating some parts of my life have been. At the same time she's always been honest and open, laughing, complaining, and even sometimes just talking about what's going on in life.
I mention her because she recently told me that I should spend some time blogging on things not related to religion and politics. My response to her is that I have no idea what I would write about if it weren't for religion. Even my politics revolves around my religion. I know that upsets some people, they feel as though people like me, who measure everything by our religious profession, are a danger, because we want to enforce our religion through the power of government, or because we can't separate religion from other aspects of life.
I'd like to take the opportunity to talk about why I view everything through religion. I want to do this for two reasons: first, I want to explain to those who don't view life like I do why I view life through the glasses of Christianity, and secondly I want to encourage other Christians, who may sometimes struggle with how to think about life, to let Christ be the one through whom they understand all things. For those who don't see the world like I do I hope this will help them to understand the views of people like me, so that hopefully they see there is less reason to be concerned than they might otherwise think. For those who are struggling with how to view life I want them to be confident in how they walk, so that they might remain strong in the face of a questioning world.
My reason for viewing the world through a religious lens is quite simple: I don't know of any other way to view the world and still hold God as first in my life. What I mean is that Christ commands of his followers to put him as first; the only and absolute standard by which we live. He commands me to take up my cross, deny myself, and daily follow him. That means that in every situation I must first and foremost consider him and his desires, dying to myself above all else.
When I was young this is what I feared the most about Christianity. As I saw it God was the only one who was ever called good in Scripture (Jesus himself affirms that when the rich young ruler calls him "good teacher"). But, if God is the only one ever called good, and if my life was to aim for the highest good, then that would mean that I would have to ever die to myself and become more and more like Christ. My fear was quite simply that I would no longer be me, but I would be more and more like Christ, and I wasn't sure that was what I wanted.
The reality is that I like me, for the most part. I know me better than I know anyone else, and I'm pretty happy with the me I know. After all, if I didn't like who I was I could change who I was into who I like, or at least that's what I tell myself. Yes, there are aspects of me I don't like so much, there are parts of me I wish I could change, but over all I'm pretty content with me, and I don't know that I'd like being anyone else quite as much. There is something terrifying in thinking that one day I might find that I'm not me anymore, that I'm someone else, because I don't know that I'd like that person as well as I like who I am today.
But, as I have walked more and more with Christ I find that I like him far more than I like me. I've come to learn that Jesus loves my wife better than I love her. God cares for my daughter more than I ever will. In fact the Lord cares for my friends, my enemies, and the strangers that I will never meet in a way that I could only dream of. In every way I've discovered, Christ is a better man than I am, and I want to be more like him.
Because I want to be more like him I try and view everything through the lens of Scripture, trusting that it is his very word, given that I might know him and his ways better. With this foundation I look to passages such as Ephesians 5:16 wherein Paul calls to us to make the most of our time, realizing that the days are evil. Thus every moment of my time must be measured, recognizing that I won't ever get that moment again. Since every moment of my time must be viewed through that lens, that means everything that happens in that moment must be equally viewed through that same lens.
If I spend 30 minutes watching a video, then what else could I have done with that 30 minutes? If I spend 30 minutes relaxing, then have I set my mind and body at ease so I can be of better service in the upcoming struggles of life? If I spend 15 minutes talking with my neighbor about his work, then have I wisely spent that 15 minutes so that I might serve God? In everything these is a balance, and every minute must be counted and weighed so that I know that I have made use of the times I have.
Do I perfectly think of everything in this way? No, of course not. If I so thought perfectly then I would never sin, for how could even one moment of sin or misbehavior ever be considered worth the trade off in time I could have spent in righteous pursuits? Yet, in the large view of life, this is how I view everything.
I think politics is important, but I'm not as active or as vocal as I sometimes want to be because I would rather not deafen someone by talking politics when the things of God are of greater import. Sure in the time that Jesus walked the earth there were very important political questions, yet for the most part Christ never engaged in open political criticism or discourse, because he understood that the kingdom of God is more important than any kingdom in this world. How can I take any different view?
I like movies, entertainment, and even computer games, but why talk about them when there are more important questions to discuss, like the coming eternity? Moreover, how do I view those games if not through the redemptive lens of Christ, thinking about how the themes of the games and movies I entertain myself with relate to the greater narrative that God is unfolding in all of reality? I long ago told my wife that I realize it was impossible to tell an interesting story without intersecting with gospel themes, because Christ is the final anti-type of every hero, his romance with the church is the culmination of every romance we have ever dreamed, and the threat of eternal damnation and the enslavement of humanity to the powers of evil is the root of every helpless orphan and every abject terror or ruthless villain man has ever conjured.
You see, I cannot help but see the world through the lens of Christianity because Christ is the architect of this world, and he has woven it so that everywhere I look I see him looking back. I see the grace of God in the sunrise of the morning, the power of God in a thunderstorm, the horror of sin in sickness, death, and dissolution, and the hope of redemption in every child's smile, in the dew on the ground, and the gentle breeze on a hot summer day. I'm hardwired to think this way, it is not just my religion, it is my whole being. While I love to write, and while I'd love to write on a hundred topics, I know that they would always come back to this: The gospel is the only story worth telling, and any story that doesn't point us to it is a poor story indeed.
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