Dieu et moi faisons de la musique…

I want Christianity to be something magnificent—not merely something I do, something I believe in, or even something I am. I want to run on the understanding that Christianity isn’t an ideological fad but rather a complete wonder. And this not so much for it’s name, tradition, or even creed, but I desire a complete awe and captivation of Christ. He becomes the “being” of and in Christianity rather than me “being a Christian”. I don’t want to make myself unto a decided characteristic of idea or belief. I want the “being” to happen within me, of divine nature, to so unravel and refute my human-laid efforts and bear into my life something magnificent, miraculous, but real. And in this reality alone do I desire any identification as “Christian”. When I am won by the person of Christ, infatuated then enthralled then, even more, devoted to His love—merely responding completely and utterly to His tenderness, mercy, and sovereign love—then, I find, identity with Him becomes me, that all of His divinity is “being” in me. And to remark of myself that, “I am a Christian” is nothing of sustenance by my own means, but rests simply as nothing amidst the reality that He is in me. He is Christ. And He is in me. And I remain nothing. And to make for myself the identity called “Christian” will only be another shod human insecurity amongst many. For if I am not loved, and by “loved” I mean receptive, responding to, and remaining in His love, then the person of Christ will not stir me and a life of “being” Christian is merely “me” off to master something, to merely call myself successful.

Christianity, therein, is nothing of relationship, as it so faithfully proclaims to be. It remains the rules and the religion the rest of the world often views it as. And its central figure, God made flesh Himself, is forgotten as humanly personable, forgotten as God reconciling man to Himself, and forgotten as the redeemer of intimacy between the creation and its Creator. He becomes “something” to follow rather than “someone” to know, trust, belong to and with. And without the closeness of this relationship, it all becomes nothing; it all falls to ruin and waste. And though human relationships take, sometimes, exhaustive efforts, I trust the one who bears the name “Love”, who designed every piece and part of communication and interaction and intimate intertwining, can, and indefinitely will, keep that which He has shed blood to restore; He will move mountains to still His beloved children in His loving hands. And for that reason I find the responsibility of “making all things right” a burden unnecessary and wholly impossible for man. Peace-seeking is noble and sweet, but we have and never will achieve such a precious entity. And, in fact, Christ Himself became peace in all He accomplished in being born as a man, living as a man, dying as a man, and yet, all along, being God and, as God, overcoming the death of man. So Christ is the life behind Christianity. And without Him, it all becomes a thing of doing, doctrines to believe and live by, and everything rests hopelessly two-dimensional. And I do not want to “be” that. I want to “be” with Him, acknowledging Emmanuel, “God with us”, to such greater degrees that Christianity would, in all reality, impassion, engage, captivate, and win the lost child that I am.