Life Themes

2010.01.06

We all have life themes - songs, if you will, that play over and over again in our passions and our priorities. These themes probably have their roots in our earliest days, though they tend to bloom in later years, more often than not in our twenties and thirties. Of course, some people seem to launch into a whole new direction very late in life. The American folk artist known as Grandma Moses comes to mind. As does the original Moses who led ancient Israel out of bondage at the age of 80 or so. But I think that the seeds of the vision of such late bloomers are planted in much earlier experiences. Certainly this was so with Moses who had long before begun to bristle at the injustices being perpetrated on his own people.

I have been thinking recently of literary and other influences in my life. Christians often refer to the whole Bible as having a significant impact, as if they are afraid they will show some kind of bias if they further delineate their answer. But I think for most people for whom the Bible has had marked impression, there are certain passages that resonate more than others.

For me, the Gospel of John had such meaning when I was a boy growing up. I don't know why other than that I saw in John someone who was very close to Jesus. Known as "the Beloved" because he and the Master were "tight", he was probably one of the younger of the disciples, perhaps had a receptive temperament, even though he was one of the "Sons of Thunder". But I think it was mostly because he found his identity in Jesus early on. I've always thought that the unnamed disciple in chapter 1 who with Andrew spent the day just hanging out with Jesus was this very John.

As I moved into my young adult years, Luke's writings - first Acts and then his Gospel - took on much greater significance for me, particularly as I've tried to understand the Master's strategy and methodology and how we are called to follow that same path. Certainly, I can point to many other passages in the New Testament that resonate in my spirit - and then there are various Old Testament references as well, such as some sections of the Prophets, certain Psalms and the stories of the Patriarchs.

Key sections of Scripture keep showing up over and over again in my life theme. One is where Jesus speaks from the prophet Isaiah concerning his own mission on this earth. Luke records it in chapter four of his Gospel. Another is over in another chapter 4, this time in Paul's letter to the Ephesians where Paul writes that the believers are to be equipped to do God's work. I Peter 2 has also had special significance where we are exhorted to do good works living as aliens in this world so that others will come to glorify God. In recent months, I have gone back to studying the Old Testament - everything from the laborious verses of Moses' instructions concerning the establishment of a new society under God to the soaring lines of the Prophets, proclaiming God's justice in the world.

Early this morning I was rereading Isaiah's words (3:15), "What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" That will make you eat your breakfast with good posture and proper humility. I thrill to those lines in chapter 1, where Isaiah writes: "Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed (or, rebuke the oppressor). Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."

As Henry Longfellow famously wrote in the heat of the American Civil War: "God is not dead: nor doth he sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth good will toward men." ("I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day") Perhaps like Moses, I early on in life began to look for a Savior who would not long endure injustices perpetrated on those he came to set free. This is a God I can follow with all my heart.

Life for my wife and me has certainly changed dramatically in recent years. One of our preaching pastors, Morris Dirks, shared on a recent Sunday how he was finally pulling out of a five-year valley of depression and for the first time in a long time was sensing a fresh hope. I don't know if I am that far through my own such valley. Nor do I know in what direction my life will move on the other side.

But I do sense that whatever that path looks like, I will still be walking to the beat of the same life theme with which I have walked for many years. It is a strong theme that resonates down through the ages, that God has come to set His Creation free so that it may worship Him and enjoy all that He has provided in the manner he intended it to be enjoyed; and that this liberation of those still oppressed will come in part through those already set free. In other words, like John, we have the joy of working as closely with Jesus as our hearts desire. And my heart does so desire.