There has always been something intriguing about possibility. Potential is fascinating to me. The idea that we hold the ability to do something; is profound in it’s privilege.
I said something to a mentor and friend the other day, “Daniel, I don’t fear anything”. And I meant it. I truly believe that I don’t live a fear based life. That makes this time in history so profound to me. For better or worse, the world is on pause and it’s threatened by something that we have little control over. If anything, COVID has reinforced the idea that the only thing we can truly control in life is ourselves. But, that’s a blog for another day.
“I don’t fear anything”. Don’t worry, if you’re sane, you see the massive rock named “truth” that’s hurtling towards my make-believe planet where I have eliminated every trace of fear.
In reality, I find in myself a stubborn refusal to let fear dictate another second of my life. I’m not a fearful person by nature, but I am human. I think I live the life that I do in a rebellion against fear. I like it like that.
I think to understand where that train of thought comes from, you have to understand how I see the world. I’m a romantic, and I view the world in vibrantly tinted lenses. This might come from a background of not having much, and when you don’t have much to hold on to, you have plenty of space to dream of what could be. I grew up with my head in a book, or watching a movie, or even writing little stories of my own. I’ve written about this before, but I wanted to offer a refresher.
I find that I fall really, really hard. I have incredible highs, and I have incredible lows, and that really is something that I am working on. But for now, let’s talk about the good that comes from seeing the world through an optimistic and romantic point of view.
I believe in the great what if. I recently had a great conversation, and debate with a dear brother of mine about the sovereignty of God. We got into all the good stuff, free will, love, the point, theology, etc etc. And at the end of the day, we are far apart on some pretty contentious items. But we do agree that love is the point, and I can live with that. Anyway, I see this love story unfolding across history. I see God, wooing and chasing His Bride (you and His church) across the generations. I see him choosing patience, love, forgiveness, self control, and gentleness, and kindness in his interactions with us. And if you will bear with me: why? Why would he do any of that if the end was already set in stone? I’m not here to debate the sovereignty or the goodness of God. I will never comprehend how deep, how wide, how vast the love of God extends across creation and into the heavens.
Love can’t be without free will. Creation without the ability to choose is a machine. So before the foundations of the world; when scripture tells us that Christ was crucified before the pages of history began to unfold, I believe the romantic Christ took a risk. He saw what could be. He saw the great what if.
What if we made them in our likeness? What if they were made Holy? What if they were made good. What if they knew, that when I see them, I’m, pleased because they are made in my image, and I am never displeased with myself?
There are so many rabbit trails that we could wander down when it comes to those questions. But my limited thoughts pale in comparison to an infinite creator. So I think it’s safe to say that at one point, an all wise God pondered some of my base questions.
I think God is a romantic. Actually, I know that He is. And I know that doesn’t even come close to comprehensively representing His entirety. I know that He is the King, and the Friend, and the Brother, and the Lover. I know that those adjectives don’t even come close to describing or encompassing His Wonder or His Glory.
For the Hope set before him, Christ endured all things.
Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation, and a desire for a certain thing to happen. The Archaic root meaning “A feeling of trust”.
The God of creation, sovereign ruler of heavens and maker of the earth…hoped? He felt? He had a feeling of expectation and he carried a desire that certain things would come to pass?
…the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints… which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
God’s plan wasn’t to get you to heaven. God doesn’t need anything. God desires, loves, and hopes to invade and become one with you. It was to set heaven into you, so you could reproduce, replicate, and emulate who He is and what He does. And from here we understand the need for Jesus, so brilliantly simple and profound in one breathe. God desired to become one with that which He loved, you. But free-will requires pain and suffering, because to know wholeness, we have to comprehend brokenness. Marriage and unity are about mutual subjection, humility, and service. And to become one with you, he first had to pay the price for our free will. It brings me to my knees when I think that the King looked at me, and knelt at my feet.
And a Perfect King, before the foundations of the world looked into the future and counted the cost of becoming one with that which He loved. He saw you, He saw, what giving you free will would cost him. And scales tipped ever in your favor.
I’m going to catch massive amounts of skepticism for this. But I dare to say that God believes in you. God hopes all things, endures all things, believes all things, and loves all things. You fit very well into the “all things” box. In fact, you were the point.
God placed a hope-bet on you.
The God of the universe took a risk, because that’s what love does. Love is a risk and a choice, day after day, moment after moment.
Is He sovereign? Yes. Is He the King on the throne? Of course. But are His ways higher? We know that to be true. And yet He decides to tell us wonderful and important bits of the plan…the plan was to get heaven into you. To invade every little nook and crack, every broken shard of your heart, every wounded, limping memory. God’s plan from before time was to invade His loved ones with His wholeness, peace, and love.
That’s a little bit of who you are. So forgive me when I am blown away and amazed by a God who balances both the sovereign king, and the romantic, bent on love.
Well. That was a lot.
I don’t write this because I want to emotionally jack anyone up on an empty, feel good, cheap grace message. If I had one point in writing this, it was to highlight the importance of hope, risk, and believing in What If.
What if knowing that God believes in you, and who He made you to be, gave you the confidence to be who you really are? These are the “What If’s” that I’m talking about. Bold, bigger than life beliefs that only a Bigger than Death King could back up in blood.
What If…
- You were born to be loved?
- Your life now, is meant for more than whatever happens to you in the afterlife?
- You are even better than you know, and you can get there?
- He doesn’t tell us the whole plan, because if we knew how good it was, we wouldn’t go?
- You’re not, have never been, or will never be alone?
These questions demand a life change if we truly believe that there is hope at the end of each tunnel. I don’t preach a message of getting healthy and wealthy from a genie in the bottle god, who we want to grant our wishes and make our lives easier. No, instead, I advocate that our hearts begin to align with a God who looked hell in the face and said “No”; and inversely looked at your life and what could be and said “yes”. What does that mean for our lives? What does that do for our own capacity for good when we believe in Christ being formed in us, day by day?
It’s my hope and my prayer that today, we love a little harder. We would forgive quicker, and move into wholeness with more willingness. I have hope, that we will choose to lay our life down for one another, because there is no greater love than this. I have a belief that you will find it in yourself, a love that has always been there, that drives you to love the world around you to unreasonable extents.
I hope you walk away from this blog more resolved to do that thing. Whatever that is, for you. I hope you walk away looking at a mountain in your life, and whispering to your soul What If. I dare you to take a God sized risk.
I think if we knew, that God could never love us more, even if we never did anything again, that alone would be motivation for us to spend more time dreaming in His presence of what could be.
If you truly take the time to dream about what could be, find steel in your back to deny what won’t be, and work hard enough to make it be, you’ll find God; fully alive inside of you spurring you on up or down the mountain, because of what He has for you there.
All the Best
Nick
Finding Gold 
So much truth, little golden nuggets, and love in this. Thanks for the read!
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