American Tragedy

A couple years ago, I had this image come to mind when I was thinking of the trinity.  In the image I could see the three walking somewhat in a circle and they each kept saying "after you." As I kept thinking about it it, trying to figure out what it meant, I just kept coming back to the thought that They each wanted not only what was best for the others, but They loved the others so much They would step out of the way to allow them to fulfill whatever it is They were needing to do.  They were in unison and loved each other so much They wanted to share this love.  That is when They decided to create humanity.  They wanted to share their love They had with each other with us.

When I look at that today, I think about how we miss this so often.  They created us to share Their love with and we rejected it.  We decided we knew better and could do life better on our own.  They gave us chance after to chance to come back and we failed.  We kept doing things our way.  Finally, in a grand gesture and a way to redeem us, God sent Christ to earth so that He could die to show us how much They loved us.

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I think about how we were created for God and the three decided that in order for us to be redeemed Christ would need to die.  Loving His father so much He agreed. The Bible says there is no greater love than one who lays down his life for his friends.  It's the perfect picture of what Christ did, only while I believe He laid down His life for us, He also laid down His life for His father.  He was still teaching us how to love. 

Then I look at our lives and how for so many of us, we don't reflect that.  Our lives don't really reflect a true love for anyone other than ourselves.

I named this post American tragedy, because by being an American it is so hard to stay focused.  We have so many other things that we can focus on that our love for each other is dwindling. We get distracted from what our real focus should be.

Maybe it is only me, but I find it hard to understand the reality of our situation.  I believe Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.  I believe He was beaten and died for my sins.  I believe He rose again and that He will be returning again.  I believe all these things in my head, but does my life really reflect that?  Does the reality of what actually happened ever really grasped?

As I think about all of this today, I am challenged to look at what is important in my life.  There are so many comforts we enjoy as Americans that are making it harder and harder for us to live as Christ would want us to.  We have so many temptations and problems that we forget what life is really about.  It reminds me of how Christ said it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  In the scope of things, most of us are very rich, regardless of what society tells us.  When a majority of the world lives on less than $3 a day, I say we are extremely rich.

Again today, I feel as if I am just rambling and have a bunch of different thoughts that all tie together somewhat.  What I really want to say is that while we are blessed to be Americans, the tragedy of it all is that because we are in a society where "stuff" matters, money matters, status matters, it  makes it that much harder for us to follow Christ because there are far too many distractions that can get in our way.