Be the Miracle?

As I was thinking about what I wanted to write about this week, I was struck with a golden nugget: why not talk about the moral of the movie Bruce Almighty? It’s an interesting topic to dig into, so I think we’ll have a great time with this one. 

In case you didn’t know, Bruce Almighty follows a man named Bruce Nolan who isn’t getting anywhere in life. He is constantly blaming God for all of his problems, so God shows up to teach him a lesson. Woah, back up–not like that. What God decides to do is to give Bruce all of His powers so that Bruce can learn a thing or two about how being God works. Bruce has some fun for a while before realizing that it’s actually more complicated than it looks. At the end, God talks to Bruce about how beautiful a thing it is when people try really hard to do good for others. Take a look at this quote:

“People are always asking me (God) to do things for them. What they don’t realize is that they have the power.” 

Folks, that’s the line that I want to call into question today. Is this a good mentality to act from? Is this a good thing to believe? I want to toy with this idea and see where it leads us. It’s probably going to feel a bit like splitting hairs, but that’s ok. I think the mindset behind the actions can change a lot in the grand scheme of things, so this is definitely worth thinking about. 

Alright, let me start things off by saying that this isn’t a bad mindset. If it gets you out of bed and helps you make a difference in the world, that’s pretty cool. Even as far as Christian mindsets go, this could get you somewhere. I kind of like this idea just because I see a lot of people that become passive in their everyday lives. I mean, I get it–it can be easy and comfortable to say a quick prayer for that guy whose car just broke down, without helping him out. Heck, maybe there’s nothing else you really can do. It can be real easy to fall into the idea that a simple prayer is enough. And I’m not saying that to poo-poo prayer. I mean, who knows–maybe it is enough. Maybe it will help them in some way that we don’t get to see. My worry is just that if everyone were to think this way, help may never actually arrive. 

As far as moving people into action goes, this mindset does the trick. But are we missing the point by thinking like this? Even if we jump into the deep end and try to tread water for the sake of others, I can’t help but feel like we’re missing something big about the Christian faith if we talk this way. Sure, it helps us more than someone who believes that they can’t do it, but it misses the mark of God showing up. It almost sounds like God, in this movie, is saying “yeah, you don’t really need me around. Y’all got this!” 

But do we really got this? I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t typically seem like I’ve got the power. A lot of days, I need God to show up to lend a hand. But that leads to the question: does God actually show up? If He does, how often and why? If we decide that He doesn’t, then the quote in question is pretty much spot on. We’ve got this and we need more inspiration to do as much as we can to make the world a better place. But if God does show up, then this quote might be missing the mark a bit.

One thing that comes to mind is how many of the stories of the bible involve people who find themselves in over their heads. Gideon is this nobody who is called to lead an army. Except, then his army is whittled down to a handful, and sent into battle unarmed. Yikes! Moses is some old dude wandering around the desert when he’s called to lead a nation out of slavery. Do you think he could have parted a sea on his own? I kinda doubt it. Or what about Joseph, some schmuck out living in the middle of nowhere who eventually wound up managing the biggest city in the world, saving millions of lives in the process? Could he have done that by himself, and by being a slave and a prisoner, no less? 

Even if you were to disagree with this idea, let me zoom out and ask an even bigger question: who are you pointing at? Imagine a guy who believes that God isn’t showing up; that God simply doesn’t care. I could imagine some people responding to this idea by working double-time to help others. After all, if you want to see good done in the world, you have to do it yourself, right? But all that good, all that drive would come at a price. The weight of the world would be on that person’s shoulders. If they managed to carry it at all, I would be tempted to say that they didn’t have much of a life of their own. The stress would gobble them up! 

The real fear that I have from a quote like this one is that we all become like David Goggins. When you think about all the exciting things that David Goggins has done, the biggest thing that comes to mind is, “man, that Goggins guy is nuts!” I think there’s a risk of it becoming all about us, rather than about God. But you might be thinking, “who cares, my dude? If the job gets done, the job gets done, right?” For now, maybe. I think the pressure of the responsibility to do all that we could would eventually rip us apart. 

Because the truth is that we don’t typically live up to our potential for goodness. Let’s suppose we have the power. We have the ability to do what we need to so that the world can be better. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we have the will to do it. Even when we have the skills, the talent, the expertise– we still aren’t good people 100% of the time. If we had the powers of God, we would all totally do stupid stuff like bring the moon closer for a romantic date, causing worldwide flooding, or send a swarm of bees on some dudes who beat us senseless. Even if we did have the power, we would abuse it. Of that, I am certain. 

That’s the real reason that we should be pointing at God: He always makes the good-est choices. He doesn’t ever do bad stuff because He feels like it. It may seem like it from time to time, but that’s just our own limited perspective. We should be getting excited about God because He’s the source of good itself. Think of the good-est good to ever good, and that’s God. We should be pointing at Him because He’s out of our goodness league, and that’s pretty cool. 

That’s the apprehension I have here. Who is ultimately getting attention when we do good things: God, or us? It may feel like I’m splitting hairs, but I think it matters at the end of the day. Because the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 that our “goodest” hand is like rags. Translation: even if you became the next Ghandi, you still wouldn’t compare to how good God is. Even the best of people will still screw up from time to time. They’re not good enough to want to worship. They just won’t work well enough in the long run. 

And only absolute perfection gets into heaven. That’s the problem we have: we can’t make it on our own. That leaves us with the question: why are we idolizing a “next best thing” example, when we could be idolizing perfection? The reason we do is because that second-best option is tangible. It’s something that we click with. It makes sense to us. God, on the other hand, feels like He doesn’t most of the time. Big questions arise about how God runs things. Heck, sometimes it feels like He isn’t running things. Sorry, but it’s true. We’re all there sometimes. 

My personal stance is that experiential knowledge of God is necessary to the Christian walk. He has to be a part of the story of our lives so that we can “get” Him. It’s one thing to understand God, being able to explain Him to others, but I can explain the lore of The Lord of the Rings, in much the same way. God needs to write a story in your life for the whole thing to be real. 

Ultimately, my stance is “people should know God, and it’s through Christians that they do so.” That tangibility of another person that we can understand and relate to is key to helping people understand God. The encounters that people have with Christians should change their lives for the better. We should help bring that experience with God to everyone we meet through our presence. Tragically, we haven’t been doing a great job of this. More people are scared of us, or hate us for all the wrong reasons. Heck, sometimes even I get those feelings about other Christians. It happens. Maybe it’s high time we got back on track. 

Seeing.

So do we really have the power to do good things on our own? Honestly, it feels like the answer is “no,” most days. Maybe I’m a big wimpy-blimpy, but I feel like I’m treading water in the ocean most days. But even on days that feel better than most, that question still remains in my head: who’s getting attention in the story of my life? Is it me? Am I bragging about how I pulled myself out of that dark place I was in? Or am I sharing the crazy story of how God unjumbled my life and brought me back to a place that I’m happy with? The way we answer these questions will shape the way we live our lives and how much meaning we get out of them. 

Until Next Time

May Peace be your Guide.