Feeling guilty; embracing grace.

Hey, you two!

It sounds like you had a great trip - mostly LOL.

That was some experience playing lost-and-found with the phone.  I can only imagine the relief you felt when you finally did find it.  What a pain if it were gone forever!  All those photos, banking information, contacts, emails, texts . . . ugh.  That’s a nightmare scenario - and then the cost of replacing it!!  I’m so glad it was recovered.

It is an interesting question you ask.  I don’t think I’ve ever used a lost phone as a metric for my spiritual passion.  You really gave me cause to let my noodle toss this one back and forth for a while.  Why do we not feel that same sense of urgency for our pursuit of God as we do for the pursuit of a lost phone?  After all, which one is more important?

I certainly can understand why the first reaction would be guilt.  I think that is our default feeling for too many issues!  The basic message behind guilt is, “I’m not good enough.”  Of course, there is a sense in which none of us is good enough but that isn’t the foundation for our relationship with God.  God does not view us based on our merit.  He views us as His image-bearers who are the object of His love and grace.  Even if we had never rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, we still would not be “good enough.”  We were created to be dependent on Him, and by His very nature, God is gracious toward His image-bearers.  As often as it is used as motivation - or perhaps more honestly, as manipulation - guilt is not a healthy reaction to not being “good enough.”  The last thing that God desires is that our relationship with Him be founded on our sense of guilt rather than embracing the generosity of His grace!

How then are we to understand this tension?  Yours is a great observation.  Here are a few ideas that can maybe help us figure this out?

First, let’s be sure we are not comparing apples to oranges (or, as they say in Ecuador, rice to potatoes).  Losing a high value personal item like a phone is going to produce an adrenaline kick.  Our entire physiology is operating a different level during these moments of stress.  We don’t - we can’t - live at that level of hyper-stimulation on a daily basis.  I don’t think replacing water with Red Bull is a good idea.  Comparing the anxious passion felt during the “Oh no, I’ve lost my phone” phase of your experience really can’t be compared to routine of the everyday walk with God.  I think the fact that one of your first reactions was, “God, help me find that phone” indicates there is an enduring passion for Him.

Second, our passion for God is much more than taking an emotional hit from time to time - whether that be a high or a low.  Loving God is a holistic expression.  It is true He has created us as emotional beings.  But we are also volitional, intellectual, and relational people.  Loving God means our pursuit of godliness engages the choices we make, how we think and grow our minds, and how we relate to one another.  

Living a mountain-top-to-mountain-top type of spirituality is not only unsustainable, it is a deceptive misrepresentation of what it means to follow Jesus and to represent Him well.  This is why I get a little irritated at the hyper-sensualization of faith - whether it be through begging God for revival or getting pumped up in a “worship experience” - that triggers the serotonin but leaves the mind empty.  If we are to engage our faith in all the dynamics of life, we need to be skilled in the disciplines to make wise choices, to use our minds to evaluate and filter what is true, real, and has value, and to learn to be interdependent with other image-bearers so we can carry one anothers’ burdens.  This is much more demanding than intense sentiments of devotion.

That’s a long answer to a short question.  I hope I’m not too preachy.  I know well the battle we all face with false guilt.  It is a snare that can entrap and suck the life right out of us.  

Life happens.  Phones get lost (and found).  We make poor decisions (and good ones).  There are regrets (and celebrations).  However, none of this comes even close to displacing the grace of God that is constantly at work within us.  Walking with God is the choice we make throughout the day because we are convinced that He is engaged with us in every detail of life.  We are convinced He is recreating us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, who loves us and gave His life for us.

Is this at all helpful?  I hope so.

Hugs to both of you from both of us.  We look forward to having you over to smoke some ribs together.

-g