Make & Do, Not Just Making Do

time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

what a reassuring quote. it lifts the spirits and reaffirms our natural tendencies for doing the things we love. and certainly, we should do things that bring us joy, peace, enjoyment. right?

i often ponder some of the things we invest time and energy in. why does our society lift high the pastimes of video gaming and web surfing? we obsess over television show plot lines and the tabloids, wanting someone else's life instead of our own, as if it were somehow better, worth more, more acceptable.

to say we were designed for something more than this passive, vicarious living may seem cliche. but consider the anecdotal evidence: some of one's fondest memories stem from creative pursuits in the sandbox, coloring and drawing at a quarter-scale table, or building forts and hide-aways, imaginary or otherwise. perhaps we experience some veiled, half-hearted whispers of these grandiose memories when we design an excel sheet and doodle in the corners of our meeting agendas and work outdoors.

i am convinced that our inner natural workings push us towards action, creativity, making, doing. to simply make do with what we are fed through simulation or information relay takes our instinct for construction and sets it on a dusty shelf.

when we examine God's word from this perspective, we understand that the plans and will of the Lord for our lives intersect beautifully with a life of making and doing. consider the beginning: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). the first verb in scripture characterizes the Ruler of the Universe as the Maker of that universe as well.

Creator God.

reading on: "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep" (Gen. 1:2a). it is into this chaotic, abstract, topsy-turvy nothingness that God steps and brings about order through creation. the story is familiar: first comes light, and then it's a 6-day creation fest, everything building up to humanity's birth. what does our Lord have to say about our conception, then? "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26-27).

wait, really? in the midst of creation, God takes time to verbalize the fact that humanity will be like Him. yes, of course we have the capacity to be like God in loving--this is the normal extrapolation i've heard for this verse. but what do we know about the Lord in just the first 25 verses of scripture? He is Creator. therefore, He creates miniature creators made in likeness of the Creator. if there would be any doubt, our creative purpose is made known in our first God-given mission: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth..." (v. 28).

where do we catch a glimpse of this original purpose more: in flipping pages around on our iWhatevers, or building a sand castle?

after it's all said and done, the Lord rests (Gen. 2:1-3). that seventh day is blessed as a time to recharge. but here's the thing: there was a day 8. and day 9. and day 10. and... well, has Creator God been resting since day 7? i would hope not. God is certainly still at work, as He makes clear in Habakkuk 1:5: "Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded, for I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." He's calling us to join in the process--but is this just "making disciples" (Matt. 28:20)? that's certainly part of it.. but what about building an ark? naming wildlife? constructing a home for the needy? composing a song? painting a landscape? can these things bring glory to the Father?

we have creation echoing in our bones. and the reverberations magnetize our souls to be like our Abba Father, the Creator extraordinaire. what a gift.

and oh, how horrendously we twist our purpose.

in our calling to be in relationship with Creator God, we fail all too easily out of the gate. what undoes creation? consumption. like "causing to exist no longer." like making it seem like something was never created. like eating a fruit (Gen. 3:6). God creates for mutual enjoyment--He shares His creation with us. but when we create with the stain of sin, we create to consume. we take from others to have for self. and this is what leads to death, physically and spiritually.

plug an extension cord into itself, and you'll get a metaphorical peek at what this looks like.

like the prodigals we tend to be, we fall into depravity when we say, "I want to do life without God." in the current motif, it's like saying, "I'm going to make something for myself that I own, something that neither God nor anyone else can lay claim to." not only is this damning, it's foolhardy. though inventors and creative minds come and go, all making and doing come from a common source in the Lord. we see this in Ecclesiastes when the preacher says:

• What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. (3:9-15)

hang on to that last line there. for the moment, let's ponder what happens when we try to create for the purpose of self-consumption instead of heeding God's truth as explained above. it seems that two outcomes are likely from this equation:

1. we worship the work of our hands. no better example than the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-6) and any other exemplar from the onslaught of idols we see both in historic and present day lives. money, sex, alcohol, grades, you name it. here's the thing: we can also easily idolize things that are extremely close to, but are still not, the Father. my church can be my idol. my ministry. my pride in following the "rules" of Christianity. those idols that resemble God the closest pose the greatest risk of stealing a Christian's affections. as C.S. Lewis so aptly put in the voice of fictitious demon Screwtape, "Nowhere do we [demons] tempt so successfully as on the very steps of the altar."
2. we worship the hands that do work. rather, this is worshipping myself. living for myself. the American dream, if you will. when we make much of "the creature rather than the Creator," we entertain a fabrication of reality rather than the truth of God's holiness (Rom. 1:24-25). how easy it is to slip into stroking one's ego with every effort exerted throughout the day, or just trying to muster up a sliver of self-esteem in vain, conceited ventures.

the fact of the matter is, we all fall into one (or both) of these categories at times, Christians and otherwise. since God is perfect in all He is, He cannot accept anything less than perfect (Rom. 3:23). in sum, without God's initiative, we are as good as dead (Rom. 6:23). so what's our fate in the hands of the Creator?

God does not completely destroy, although it might look like it. destructive discourse is more likely to be found in the context of hell/separation from God (Matt. 10:28), Satan/the devil (John 10:10a), our own spiritual ignorance (Hosea 4:6), and of course, our pride in ourselves/our works (Proverbs 16:18). these things, by means of their destructive nature, are antithetical to who God is. rather, scripture paints God in a more reconstructive light, where he may do some damage for a greater good as "he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal" (Job 5:18). God's renovation, although frightening as shaking the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and all the nations, brings about treasures and glory (Haggai 2:6-7).

this brings us to God's plan for salvation, and the full-circle effect with Ecclesiastes 3:15--"God seeks what has been driven away." that's you. that's me. our sin and desire for self-fulfilling creation pushes us away from our maximum referential point and true north: God the Creator. but God doesn't leave us hanging.

it's beautiful. way back in Genesis, God creates through language, spoken word. how fitting it is, then, that our salvation comes in that same Word-made-flesh in Jesus Christ: "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3), and "by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16). and so, as Jesus hung on the cross, God's Word-made-flesh made the boldest, messy, most passionate statement in human history.

"I want you back. and you're worth it."

through this sacrifice and our emphatic response in light of it, we are made whole and new. in fact, our old created self is replaced by a new, Christ-like self (1 Corin. 5:17). as a friend of mine is fond of explaining it, "God is in the business of making dead things alive again." this gift of Jesus His Word that God gives us is His very means of creating, and in burial with Christ we accept the offer to come back into relationship with our Creator, filling the role we were designed to take on as "God's fellow workers" (1 Corin. 3:8-9).

why would we ever want to substitute a life of making and doing in God for the hum-drum of getting by day-by-day in our own routine that we build? we think it's somehow better because we suppose it has its generation from our mind, when all the while God is the ultimate supplier of our time and the energy with which we expend that time. knowing true peace, joy, love, comfort, happiness--these all come from yielding creative credibility to God and allowing oneself to make and do as His beloved.

it is not an easy shift, this. postmodern ideology beckons us with glittering screens, hyperreal fantasy and fictitious universes that allow us to forget the filth and decay of a world that we no longer try to find God's beauty in. but it's there, always has been there, waiting to be noticed. God is here too. why are we so hesitant to what He might call us to create, what task He may have for us to do? as if He'd ever leave our side...

i am striving for a place where I would be apt to pray for a heart after God's own in regards to creating and making and doing and acting for the sole purpose of glorifying my Father. no more selfish ambition that only results in a closed circuit of dead energy; these are the longing of a stone heart. i need One who can craft me a living, beating heart of flesh as i was made for (Ezekiel 36:25-28). i need to consistently be praying for God to work His restorative, creating hands in my life, creating in me a clean heart and right spirit (Psalm 51:7-12). with God, i might go boldly forth in this life, making and doing instead of just making do with what comes my way.

MAKE...

• crafts
• songs/music
• art, drawings, paintings, the like
• disciples of the Lord
• smiles, laughter
• friendships, relationships

DO...

• goodness, kindness
• service to others
• recreational activities
• work
• maintenance
• charity
• love

The Finisher

i believe our culture has a facebook problem.

no, really.

personally, i know my fingers have the website, my username and password ingrained into my muscle memory. i can't seem to keep working on one thing for more than an hour on a computer without being sucked into checking my facebook, hungrily searching for the red flag notifications. what's the deal with that?

social media fascinates me. there's probably several contributing factors to said fascination, but i think one element that intrigues me is the concept of virtual self. it's a rather captivating epitome of constructing, revising and saving face. the profile pictures, the interests, the status updates, all instruments functioning to project a desired image. i could make myself seem like a music junkie, a sports buff, an arts enthusiast, or an outdoors mountain man.

identity is a funny thing. i often find myself wondering what label or "type" of person i am. do the people i know think of me as the music guy? no, certainly not; plenty of other people are better at playing music than i. what about technology savvy? again, i can make a list of several others who would supersede me in that regard. rower? writer? presenter? athlete? am i defined by the things i do? it would seem much more fitting for my identity to bring about my actions, not vice versa.

an identity crisis, indeed.

i wonder how many of us, consciously or otherwise, get wrapped up in ourselves in this way. i feel most me when i'm _______. it's petrifying, really. because whatever holds that blank space at any given moment is also what holds me up, what buttresses my energy and motive. and should it (or the desired image that it constructs for me) ever fail, falter, waver, fall through, etc., i follow in the same fashion.

i wonder what God thinks of facebook. evangelical tool? waste of time? virtual substitute for His gift of community? i hold the belief that nothing in and of itself is pure evil. now what people do with any given thing (beer, sex, social media, and so on) may most certainly be tainted with such sinister motives, contexts and desires that it can be a natural association, such "money is evil," as opposed to the root of such a phenomenon. how much more dangerous, then, is a case like facebook, where there is no social stigma, but in stark contrast an enthusiastic embrace of virtually checking yourself in the mirror and soliciting mass response? it makes me a bit nervous, to say the least.

yet i buy into it. we all do, to some extent. we want people to like us, we want to be the right "type" of person. so what happens then, when the things we find identity in keep coming up short? leaving us dry? empty? reaching for something more?

...

i have four names. Tyler. Clifford. Scott. Hall. the first one was a gift from my mother, literally meaning "tile maker" (according to a random baby name book i saw at the checkout line at kroger once); the second comes from my grandfather--he didn't like his name much in life, so he insisted that all legal documentation holding my name have the abbreviation C. the third originated from an uncle i never knew as he died before i was born. finally, my surname sticks with my mother's side of the family.

i remember in middle school when, as i began attending confirmation classes, i tried to get the name jack to stick. i don't claim to have any more insight into the strange mind of an adolescent pre-teen boy than the next person, even having been one myself. however, i can only assume that my motive for the alias came from a desire to start over, to erase the miserable experiences of social isolation and degradation at school and ensure that i would not encounter the same with church friends. what's in a name? i suppose it depends on who's name, and who you're asking.

if you ask God, i would venture that it wouldn't be so much about the name, but the heart and soul behind the person behind the name. God Himself cannot be limited by a name, simply stating "I AM WHO I AM," and "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation" (Gen. 3: 14-15). so there's two things with God's identity: 1) you can't define Him or comprehend all that He is (even the gendered pronoun is limiting), and 2) He doesn't change. He isn't about to change His name willy-nilly. HE IS WHO HE IS.

but here's the incomprehensible, fantastic, grace-gushing thing about God's nature: He doesn't just affirm His own identity, but the identity of His creation. that's me. that's you. He steps into the profile-amending, mask-toting chaos of life and exposes the beauty that is pure self: the way He created his child.

we see it all over scripture. it's inspiring, uplifting, monumental. when abram and sarai are on the lam, venturing into a foreign land, they are hesitant to trust the LORD at first. when their hearts are most vulnerable and open to God's will, He does something truly unique. He renames them. He doesn't just call them by new names, but actually bestows upon them new names, new identities, new selves. "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham...as for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name" (Gen. 17: 5, 15). this shift in names brings about new habits, new attitudes and new faith in the couple ordained by God.

it happens with jacob. on the eve of a familial confrontation, jacob literally wrestles with some sort of physical manifestation of the Father and finds the faith to move forward. in sending him off, God declares "'Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.' So he named him Israel" (Gen. 35: 10).

and again with peter: in being called one of his disciples, "Jesus looked at him and said, 'So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas' (which means Peter)" (John 1:42).

and again with paul: after his encounter with God on the road to Demascus, the once-fierce Christian assailant turns to a life after the LORD as "then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 13:9).

if we find our identity in the Father, He presents us with the life we're meant to live, under the name and the concept of self that gives us peace and enduring faith. the reason Jesus Christ came to this earth was to show the Father's love, "that they [we] might have abundant life" (John 10:10). i am convinced that abundant life, life to the full, includes knowing who we are despite our blemishes and allure towards depravity. He has the final word:

"Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)

The Finisher. the label comes from the Greek "teleiotes," completeness, perfection. it's gorgeous.

when we abide in Christ, when we find identity in his sacrifice and lean on the Father's promise--"that we should be called children of God, and so we are..." (1 John 3:1)--we are sanctified, growing more into the people God meant us to be.

one day, we will have perfection in our relationship with the Father, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). i don't have to constantly worry about making a name for myself, trying to construct some lasting impression on those around me by what i can do or what i'm good or not good at.

when we recognize that we are named by the Father, we can find our identity in an all-powerful source of esteem, love and vocation. i know who i am when i embrace my status as a son of the Most High God.

"Fear not, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1: 17-18). This is who i am claimed by. that is all i need to know.

facebook is fun and all, but at the end of the day you can keep your social media.

"I am the Finisher, and I live forever."

-Oh, Sleeper "The Finisher"

"Who do I belong to?

Unchanging.

Unbreaking.

Unfailing.

Creator.

Immortal.

Eternal."

-Project 86, "To Sand We Return"

Life's Not Fair

karma's a... well, you know how the saying goes. where'd that saying come from, anyways?

i suppose it's not too far of a mental stretch. looking at my own life, i'd say karma is about the last metaphysical director i'd want throwing switches and pushing buttons in my life. in my conscientious mind, i try to do a good deed here and there throughout the day, whether it's a physical action to benefit another or making a choice to discipline myself. not getting angry at people who throw a wrench into my plans. holding the door open for someone. chatting with a lonely stranger. saving a kitten from a tree. you know, the normal stuff.

but in all seriousness, let's look big(ger) picture here. despite all my well-being and self-motivated attempts at chivalry and decency, i am a wreck. as it's been said, "all the good that i've done is in spite of myself." and how so. if karma governed the world's orbit, i would have certainly run my proverbial plane into the ground once, twice, thrice, again, and again, and again, and again, etc. too much of my heart has been dipped in tar, tainted with what this world says is natural and good and true, to keep myself steady on the straight and narrow. even scraping the bulk of sinful gunk off, there's still a black stain that creeps in sporadically yet continually. "i should really be thinking about what i'm doing after college...i wonder how i can get so-and-so to approve of me...i can't wait to see my plan follow through..."

the sinful nature. ever elusive to elude. and so i am in the red.

if what went around came around, i should be alone in this world for how much i've shortchanged the friendships that mean so much to me. if what went around came around, i would deserve no blessings or support in my career endeavors. if what went around came around, i would deserve rejection, exile, disappointment and separation--hell, in a word.

if what went around came around...

if the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law...

if what went around....

if what went...

if...

if.

but.

but...

but what if...

but thanks...

but thanks be...

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

but You are a shield around me, O Lord; You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved.

as of late, i have become aware of two glaring facts: one, i am a pretty miserable screw up. i cannot save myself, and i can't do this life on my own and come out truly joyful. i am messy. but, two...my Father loves me anyway. the Lord would love an embarrassing, stumbling, disrespectful creation like me even though i would have given up on myself years over years ago. and i am forever indebted and in praise of Jesus Christ for His all-encompassing gift of Himself to me.

therefore, i cannot talk myself out of pursuing deeper levels of my relationship with Him just because of my shortcomings. i will never be "ready," but God calls me just the same. does a bird take endless time to study and calculate and analyze what flying is before it goes out and just does it? the mistakes are necessary, but are surmountable. even those mistakes made in the latest of years, when you'd think a bird would have learned to avoid all the obstacles there are to flying, those mistakes still show up. but i'd rather fall beside God, where He is ready to pull me to my feet, than off on my own in foolish pride.

to illustrate how completely dorky i am, i offer here a quote from batman begins: "why do we fall, sir? so that we might learn to get back up." i'd also offer a slight variation in response. we fall, so that when we do, we learn that we are prone to fall and we cannot rely on ourselves to pick ourselves up. we must trust in One who can deign among us out of love and will carry us through to the end with Him in His everlasting glory.

amen.

From tender years you took Me for granted,
But still I deign to wander through your lungs;
While you were sleeping soundly in your bed,
Your drapes were silver wings, your shutters flung.

I drew the poison from the summer's sting,
And eased the fire out of your fevered skin.
I moved in you and stirred your soul to sing;
And if you'd let Me I would move again.

I've danced 'tween sunlit strands of lover's hair;
Helped form the final words before your death.
I've pitied you and plied your sails with air;
Gave blessing when you rose upon My breath.