Call me irresponsible

"He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot

"My most recent faith struggle is not one of intellect. I don’t really do that anymore. Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don’t believe in God and they can prove He doesn't exist, and there are some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it’s about who is smarter, and honestly I don’t care." ~ Donald Miller

It seems on any given weekend you can scroll mindlessly through the cable channels looking for something to watch and you will probably stumble upon the film Forrest Gump. It is an entertaining film with many memorable characters and lines. The film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks is based on a book by the same name by Winston Groom, and it follows the life of the title character from childhood into fatherhood. While Forrest is viewed by all as an idiot or a simpleton he displays honesty, dignity, loyalty, bravery, heroism and even more wisdom and the ability to make better choices than many of those he encounters that possess a higher IQ.

Forrest’s rock is his mama and she always seems to have the ability to explain things to him in way’s he can comprehend. When people tell him he is stupid his reply is “Mama always said that stupid is as stupid does." Forrest’s "Stupid is as stupid does" is a variant of an old adage, "Handsome is as handsome does." This saying appears in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and in Herman Melville's "Billy Budd," and can be traced as far back as the 14th Century. "Handsome is as handsome does" basically means that true handsomeness has to do with a person's behavior, not just a handsome face. The saying is also phrased in the forms "Pretty is as pretty does" and "Beauty is as beauty does."

Forrest's version of the saying means that stupidity is not just a surface thing derived from a person's looks. Stupidity is a matter of deeds, not appearances. Like the other versions, it comes down to this: judge people by what they do, not by how they appear. While the world views Forrest as a simpleton they are unwittingly touched by him and he serves as a mediator and unifying factor to eventually help them redeem a once pitiful, shallow and empty existence.

I am surprised at times how people react to the fact that I express no embarrassment telling them that I believe and follow the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, but admittedly it does. I don’t think people can truly grasp that people have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, rarely do this “blindly” as we are often accused of. I can look you square in the eyes and tell you that no decision or choice I have made in my entire life has received as much thought or attention. I have not spent even one sixteenth the amount of thought or effort making life changing decisions as I have in wrestling and agonizing over should I believe the Gospel message. I did not put nearly as much effort into choosing where to go to college, who I was going to marry, if I would be a father, where I would live or what job I was going to take. That is not to say that I stepped into any of those decisions without thought or even prayer. I am just attempting to impress upon you that I have invested nearly a half a century asking myself is it worth it to follow Jesus and should I continue to do so?

People often attempt to marginalize the decision that others make to accept Jesus Christ as the only means to reconciliation with God. They say that it is a product of your subculture, up bringing, a lack of reason or intelligence and even an outcropping of one’s national heritage. To that I would say; not hardly! Even though I was raised in a Christian home and regularly attended church nobody could force me to listen to what was being said. I had the option of mentally checking out and to be frank I often did. Nobody made me read my Bible and more times then I care to admit I didn’t. And even after I graduated from college and started a family of my own, I clearly had the freedom to go my own way and for a period time I actually did. I didn’t have anyone in my immediate family within a 2 to 3 hour radius of me and I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. But ultimately none of these choices offered me the freedom, joy, peace and satisfaction that the Gospel could. A good job, security and a steady income have never given me what the Gospel offered. I never felt more alive than the day that I placed my faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And as I have learned more about Him and His matchless gift of grace and mercy it has given my life a deeper and greater meaning and purpose.

I have made poor choices and suffered the consequences and I have ignored God’s Word to my own detriment. The idea that I am a sinner is not hard for me to accept at all. I know me, I know how I think, I know my motives and I know what I secretly want to say or do sometimes. People can see the exterior of a nice and friendly person but they fortunately cannot see inside my head. They don’t see the times of anger, bitterness, annoyance, frustration, pride or self righteousness. I have no problem accepting the concept of sin and the fact that I have offended God and I need His pardon. I know myself all too well, and a good friend reminds me that deep down inside we all know, we know. The words of John Newton echo in my mind; “...I remember two things -- that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." What truly amazes me is that as I grow in my knowledge of God and His Word these distasteful and sinful aspects of my character lessen over time and how I respond and react have dramatically changed over the years. Older and wiser or mellowing cannot account for the change that has occurred over the course of my life and it is by no means any credit to me, but all credit goes to the author of that change; my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have not drunk any Kool-aid, I am not a member of a cult and I am not saying I have never wavered or doubted. But even when I doubt, or entertain and examine the alternatives to the Gospel all it does is strength my faith and my resolve that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one can come to Father (God) but through Him. I am not embarrassed in that exclusive statement and I say it with conviction and boldness. Truth by it’s very nature is exclusive. Don’t believe it then wrestle and agonize with it yourself. Make your choice but don’t be intellectually or spiritually lazy; Jesus doesn’t give you that option. C.S. Lewis said it well when he penned; "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

Some want to accuse Christians of adopting our faith as a form of intellectual laziness and maybe in some cases that is true. But I found out very early in life telling a skeptic I believe something because that is what my parents, pastor, church or school said may work in a cloistered environment but it holds no weight in the real world. “If one stakes out an ethical position on any topic, the assumption is that you have to defend it. Quite frankly defending ideas is hard work.”¹ Rather than ignoring the question, embrace it, wrestle with it and consider alternatives to your worldview, but don’t just give up seeking answers. Don’t abdicate the responsibility to others and just accept what they are telling you without doing the heavy lifting for yourself. I have to admit that I have some respect for an atheist because at a minimum he or she is putting a stake in the ground and they have taken a definitive position on the matter. As Teddy Roosevelt once said; “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…”² Get into the arena and wrestle with life’s biggest question; is there a God and if so what does He expect of me?

When Winston Groomed penned stupid is as stupid does he was very close to echoing Psalm 14:1 when David wrote; “The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." Rather than write it off investigate it for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

"Since Jesus Came into My Heart" by Rufus H. McDaniel

What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I have light in my soul for which long I had sought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!

Since Jesus came into my heart,
Since Jesus came into my heart,
Floods of joy o’er my soul
Like the sea billows roll,
Since Jesus came into my heart.

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt." ~ Fyodor Dostovevski

“You cannot live faithfully in this life unless you are ready for the next.” ~ D.A. Carson

^1”Hidden Worldviews; Eight Cultural Stories that Shape Our Lives” by Steve Wilkins and Mark L Sanford pg 86

²Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910