The Upside of Great Despair

Spirituality Column #236
May 17, 2011
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

The Upside of Great Despair
By Bob Walters

It’s a darn shame but a fact of life that often we have to bottom out before we can be lifted up by Christ.

Non-believers find the logic of that truth impossible to understand. That’s partly right – it is impossible – because at its core Christ’s truth is about faith, not logic.

We generally, rationally, think we have the best shot at saving ourselves from whatever malady might befall our human existence. “My brain and my logic are all I need,” we reason. “If I’m strong enough, I can fix this.” “I believe in me.”

Religion, many people think, is a cop out. I have had real conversations with smart people – some of them dear friends – whose view of someone “finding Jesus” was accompanied by a long, low whistle and a dipping motion of the hand.

“People turn to Jesus when it’s as bad as it can get …”; then comes the long low whistle and hand dip, implying, “They’re a mess. It’s so bad, they found Jesus!” The perceived awfulness isn’t so much a concern for the despair, suffering or hardship a person faces – that would take Godly compassion – the awfulness is turning to Jesus.

Oh no! Not Jesus! You’re a goner!

Our pride and egos are horrid things, and the power of Jesus Christ is opposite everything the world thinks it knows about power. In the world, power is the imposition of will. It’s living one more day. In Christ, power is love and freedom, and eternal life at the throne of God.

“Our egos are prisons that keep us from the love and freedom of Christ,” notes my teacher George. What a great statement. Our egos want power because we think with power, we can forestall death; maybe just for today or tomorrow – and we admit we’re all going to die someday – but power is about my strength.

We cannot tap into God’s inexhaustible supply of strength when we try to compete against it with our own. Christ is like an experienced lifeguard, George analogizes. He knows when to approach a drowning person. After letting us fight and tire awhile in the deep, swirling water of our sin and pride, when we realize we can swim no more, Christ comes and gets us.

The power of God is to forgive and to love, and His ultimate strength is His compassion. That’s the gift He gave us all in Jesus Christ.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) found Christ when things were going fairly well; God somehow overwrote his sizable ego.

Being Definite about the Infinite

Spirituality Column #197
August 17, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Being Definite about the Infinite
By Bob Walters

Logic and infinity have a tough time with each other because logic demands definition, and infinity cannot be defined.

So it is with faith and relationships. Our human logical minds wish to define every human or divine encounter, and yet there sits our Father God up in heaven, utterly infinite, utterly safe, utterly good, utterly unique, utterly holy.

Utterly real, yet utterly indefinable.

And because of that indefinablilty, many humans refuse to accept the God-inspired yearning of our hearts and minds to seek God, praise God, love God, and love others.

Funny … it’s His infinite indefinability that makes God worth worshipping.

Our culture has developed a love affair with practicality, both inside and outside the church. Don’t we individually insist on seeing the evidence? Don’t we say, “Show me the money”? Don’t we insist on a logical definition for … an infinite God?

Infinity seems like it should be a quantitative thing, a great big number or a great big space. But God’s infinity makes more sense as a qualitative thing, more like beauty or love or faith or relationships.

Defining our relationships with God and each other are not things that lead easily to pat answers and rote definitions. Define your family: that’s my wife, those are my sons, there’s our dog. Define God: there’s my church, there’s the Bible, Jesus is my Lord and Savior, Amen.

But does any of that truly describe a relationship? Does it consider the infinity of possibilities, the infinity of freedom, the infinity of love, the infinity of the throne of God?

As Christians we desperately want to define God in ways that help our logical minds resist all challenges to our faith. And perhaps even more desperately, we want to share our faith – to express our relationship with God – in ways that persuade a non-believer’s logical mind.

The fully man, fully divine person of Jesus Christ is the bridge between logical man and the infinite God. Notice though that Jesus is not a bridge of how far or how much, He is a bridge of relationship; a bridge of faith, hope and love.

Most of us learn to love our families without a lot of specifics, and Jesus commands us to love others … also without a lot of specifics.

Don’t wait for the specifics to love God. Let God’s infinity draw you in, not push you away.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) knows “we are weak but He is strong.” Yes, Jesus loves me.

Evidences of God

Spirituality Column #133
May 26, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Evidences of God
By Bob Walters

My elder son Eric is taking a Religious Studies minor in college and is always an interesting conversational partner during our car trips to and from school.

Eric, heading into his senior year at Purdue, is a baptized believer in Christ and walks his faith in a number of tangible ways – missions, campus ministries, Bible study leadership, youth group mentoring, worship musician, avid volunteer for assorted Kingdom activities, regular church-goer, chaplain of his fraternity, and (OK, I’m a bit biased) all around good-guy.

Plus, he’s a sinner like the rest of us. It’s ironic that we Christians, so often assailed by secularists for either being hypocrites or goody-two-shoes, are also the first to admit we are sinners.

That’s because being a sinner is the one and only thing that qualifies us for the grace of Christ. But I digress …

It’s easy to get through college thinking there is no God, being confused about God, just plain not thinking about God, or ridiculing God and those who believe in Him.

Eric’s faith, thankfully, is surviving both the college experience and what he’s learning about philosophy and theology.

On our most recent ride back down I-65, Eric mentioned a philosophy class this semester which discussed that there are just two kinds of arguments – evidential and logical.

An evidential argument, for example, would suggest that it is more likely God and evil in some way coexist. We see God, we see evil; both exist. A logical argument, differently, would note that a good God would not allow evil to exist, there is evil in the world, therefore God does not exist.

Conversation ensued … evidence obviates assumptions, while logic is wholly dependent on assumptions. Logic is harder to prove than evidence. “My concept of good outweighs God’s likelihood of existence” is a big, awful assumption, not evidence.

But here’s my point. Secularists – who in my experience are particularly queasy about being called “sinners” – immodestly fight against the idea of God’s existence, eternal salvation by Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because they see no evidence … and call their position logical.

Look at a changed human life, look at a church full of believers, look at the Bible, look at beauty, look at love, experience an answered prayer, look at the sacrifice of Christ … evidence of God is everywhere, unless you assume it isn’t.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) was passively confused about God for roughly three decades, including college. Eric, by the way, is majoring in Aviation Management.