We all have an idea of what the “good life” looks like. But a question my pastor asked recently was, “Does your idea of the ‘good life’ have room for brokenness and suffering?”
That’s a question that shakes me to the core. I don’t wake up in the morning looking forward to my depravity, nor that of others. But it’s a restless reality and it’s not going anywhere. So how do we find relief?
As you have probably heard, Tullian Tchividjian, one of the most influential men in my life and the lives of countless others, resigned from his position as Senior Pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church due to moral failure in the context of an affair. When I got the news, my stomach dropped. I didn’t want to believe it. I cursed and yelled and grieved. But the Gospel held me close to a hard, simple, liberating truth:
He doesn’t have to hide anymore. This is what the good life looks like.
I once heard someone say that the greatest day of our lives would be the day that everything we’ve ever said, done and thought was displayed on the local news for everyone to see. It’s the greatest day of our lives because everyone knows who we really, truly are. And we don’t have to hide anymore. We are free from the masks we’ve worn. They’re burned and turned to ash. We are free from the guilt of the lies we’ve told. We don’t have to pretend to have it all together or sugar coat the real problems in our lives. This is who we are. And we’re free.
Tullian’s sin is real and the consequences are promising. But it’s true for all of us.
Whatever masks you’re wearing and the lies you’ve told, expose them for what they are. Take the plunge and consider the freedom that can be yours when you lose yourself in the life-giving splendor of the Gospel. Throw yourself into the mercy-bed that is the breast of Christ. You’ll find your life there. And it’s a good one.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
-John 10:10 (ESV)
- Commentary: Ephesians 5:21 - March 15, 2016
- Preference or Revelation: Church Attendance in the 21st Century - March 1, 2016
- Pray for Chattanooga - July 18, 2015
