Breathe

We are part of a society that is constantly pushing us into an escalated state of existence. With social media and ready access to the internet 24/7 our dopamine synapses are shortening, our anxiety is heightening, and the pressure remains to do and be more. We are expected to be what we cannot be.

These subtextual pressures influence belief systems as well. We expect perfection of ourselves. The moment we fail we assume we will never succeed. We push and push and push. And we forget grace.

We read the words, pick up your cross and follow, or bear one another's burdens and assume that means we need to be better. "If I just work harder, if I just do more, if I just believe stronger than things will change. Then my loved ones will be okay. Then I will be following Christ."

We are culturally conditioned from birth that the answer to your problems is to pick yourself up by your boots straps and just work harder. But the equation doesn't work that way. Life isn't simply Effort equals Results. It's much more difficult.

Surrender.

Breathe.

These are the things that are asked of us. 

The book of Job, one of the oldest books in the bible chronologically, is the story of a human who did everything right. According to the equation we try and staple on to life he should have succeeded and prospered in life. But effort didn't equal results. Even after committing his life to Jesus, he lost everything.

In the later chapters of Job, after losing his family, his home, and all he owned, Job speaks about what he has after everything is taken from him.

For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. – Job 33:4

If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath, all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust. – Job 34:14-15

This man, in the midst of excruciating pain and suffering, speaks of breath. He comes back to the ultimate truth of life. We are still living. We are living because we are sustained. Not by a sun, an atmosphere, food, water, or sleep.

We are sustained by a breath.

I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. – Ezekiel 37:5-6

Life won't turn out the way you want it to. The effort you supply will not create the life you dream of. Our plans will warp and crumble. But in the middle of this mayhem, there is breath.

Amidst the rush of society, the unexpected sorrows of life, and the confusion of existence;

I will breath. For I am sustained. And in this moment, that is enough.

The Difference

This is not going to be a well-worded sermon on the precepts of belief or the theological inter-workings of existence. I will express half-baked ideas and in-process thoughts, because I am a human in process. The questions I want to pose are for you to consider, not for me to answer.

Having a belief system in modern day America is an extraordinary amalgamation of societal pressures to believe or not believe, conform or not conform, and whether to hold to your faith or simply be okay with everything. Whatever each person may have experienced in this regard, we all have most likely come to the conclusion that it can be difficult to be both a modern human and a Christ follower. 

How do we do as Jesus did? He sat with beggars, tax-collectors, whores, criminals, law enforcement, and heretics. How do we do the same in our current cultural context? He sat with humans, regardless of beliefs, background, or appearance. He remained himself, genuine and open, in each context he was present in. How do we follow that example?

I think these questions have led me to wonder what it's all about. Faith, belief, existence. When you scrape away everything else what remains is simply the relationship between Jesus and us. That's the whole point, right? If that's the point for our existence than how does that knowledge affect my everyday life?

How is Jesus the difference in my life? I don't want to participate in a faith that simply results in a tingling down my spine on the occasional Sunday morning. How is my faith manifest in my life in actual, real-life, observable moments?

How is Jesus the Difference?

What are the moments in life where you can look and see that Jesus was the difference between chaos and peace, hope and desolation, life and death. If we take a moment, no matter what our lives may look like, we can see the workings of Jesus. My dad once said, years ago, "Jesus is working everywhere, all the time, we just need the eyes to see it". So again, how is Jesus the difference in our lives?

I know over the course of my lifetime there are multiple occasions that I can say with certainly that if Jesus had not intervened I may not be here today. Or if I was here I would be a far more shattered person than I am today. Jesus was there. He was when no one else was. He was the difference between life and death for me. And in light of that I've come to a place where I am no longer willing to live my life without his difference being present in my life.

Are we settling for simply letting life happen to us? Are we active participants in our own lives? Are we settling for anything less than Jesus being the difference for us on a moment-by-moment basis?

I want to live my life knowing that every breath I breathe has been provided to me. That every breath he is the difference between life and death. I want to living knowing that Jesus is the Difference.