The Gospel: The Irony of Good Charlotte

(This post once again draws on ideas from a talk by Tullian Tchividjian. I take no credit for 70% of this.)

I have multiple New Found Glory and Good Charlotte CDs in my iTunes.

Ahhh! That doesn't feel good to type.

I desperately want you to believe that I have good taste in music. I don't know who "you" are. "You" could be someone who stumbled upon this site that I will never in any possible scenario meet, but still, I want your approval.

. . .

I also have a Dido album . . . and I want badly to inform you that its not mine.

What does this reveal?

Regret?

Yes, but also it reveals a non-Gospel-centered mindset.

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I wrote last time that Christians live under a banner.

A banner that reads "It is finished."

If this is true, then there is room no more for fear, for hiding, for secrets. Not even about topics as trivial as 90s pop punk. If my banner reads "Adopted Son of God" no other label can carry weight. This is absolute, positional truth, but whether or not we experience this truth is another issue.

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Obviously, I'm not just talking about musical preferences here. All people have things by which they do not want to be labeled.

That stupid decision.

That nagging sin.

That accusing internal voice.

That personality flaw.

That insecurity.

That physical imperfection.

And because of these things, we are stuck pretending (I am stuck pretending). I pretend everything is all right, that I have it all together, and that tomorrow will be a better day because I hold to a belief that "The world needs to see that I am strong."

However, this is false.

The world needs to see that God is strong.

The world also needs to see the reality that I am weak and frail and pretty messed up (And you are too!). And I feel uncomfortable just admitting that, because everything in me wants you to believe that I am not weak, am not frail, and am not messed up.

So let me set the precedent and say that this will be a place of honesty. I hesitate to type this, as I think through the implications of this statement, but, I want to be honest here. To be weak, frail, and messed up on this blog. I want to go first so that others have freedom to go second (check out the link if you have time).

And this is why: though all people are weak and frail and pretty messed up, those people are in two groups: those who know it and those who don't.

And those who know it are in two groups: those who can admit it and those who are too insecure to admit it so they mask it.

I am definitely in the latter group. Strongly. Obsessively.

And I want to be counted amongst those who can admit it. I want to be able to admit freely what I know to be true, that the closer I look into and examine my own heart and my own motives and my own life the uglier, darker, and more disordered it gets.

But here's the kicker.

The value is not in being able to admit it. No. Not at all. This isn't some idea that transperancy and confession and sincerity somehow cover over sin. Not at all.

Not. at. all.

Sin has already been covered over.

In full.

The Lord, Yahweh, God himself, came to the Earth as a man, lived a perfect life, in our place, died a substitutionary death, in our place, and provided for an already accomplised, already offered, already obtained forgiveness of all sin past, present, future, personal, corporate, omission, and commission. Already paid in full.

Don't get it twisted.

Shoot, the reason I want to be counted amongst those who can admit their depravity (big word) is this: Those who know it and can admit are those who know the Irony of Gospel Growth. That being, most all people want to change, but those who want change and are simultaneously aware that God will not love them any less if they do not change are the ones that actually will see life transformation.

Again, the irony is that when we set out to change ourselves, we undertake a "morbid introspection" where we focus on ourselves, our sin, our issues and our need to get better and when we do this . . . sadly, there is no better way to get worse.

But, those who admit their profound, deep shortcomings yet know with certainty that God loves them in it and that he has already proclaimed "It is finished", these are the people that actually will see change.

God's love for me and for you does not get bigger when you or I obey. Nor does it get smaller if we disobey.

When you imagine God's feelings about you right now, of what do you think?

No matter what you think. The truth is this, if you are in Christ, God is deeply satisfied, even overjoyed, with you.

Christian growth does not happen first by behaving better, but by believing better what God has already secured for us.

Christians live under the banner of "It is finished."

"It is finished."

How does God look at you right now?

What would prevent you from radical honesty with yourself? with God? with others?

What had God already secured for you?