JR. Forasteros - November 6, 2011
What's Behind Us
We live in a world shaped by choices other people have made. We live in an inheritance that seems pretty broken most of the time. It's easy to feel trapped by what's been chosen for us. But God gave Ezekiel a message for the Israelite Exiles that we need to hear too. God says that we are responsible to choose God here and now, in our time. That we will be held accountable not for what others have done to us but what we choose. What's behind us doesn't define us.
From Series: "This is Not the End"
We often look at the way our culture is headed and lament what we've lost. But God is preparing something new, something better. By listening to the voices of Israelites who lived after the Exile, we can learn how to hope in God's new thing. Because this is not the End!
More Messages From JR. Forasteros...
Powered by Series Engine
Last month, news broke that rock singer Chris Cornell had committed suicide in the middle of a Soundgarden tour. The news shook our culture, in part because Mr. Cornell seemed so happy. He had a wife and three children, and by all accounts was happily married. He gave no outward indication that he was struggling with depression.
I wrote a post on Facebook, reacting to the tragedy. The thrust of my post was that if even someone like Chris Cornell can struggle with depression, then if you are struggling too, it doesn’t make you weird or broken or a freak. It makes you pretty normal.
I put a plea at the end of my post – if anyone reading was considering doing something similar, would they please talk to someone first? I told them they could contact me if they wanted.
I didn’t expect what happened next – the post went viral. It was shared over 800 times, and over the next couple of days, I received a handful of private messages from people I’d never met who wanted to know if I was serious that they could reach out to me.
Over the next week or so, I had conversations with several people who were at various stages of considering suicide. Again and again, they said the same things.
“I don’t matter. No one cares about it. No one will miss me.”
I don’t matter.
There’s no point.
This sentiment is becoming more and more widespread in our culture.
It’s nothing new. There’s a story our culture has been telling for at least the last 100 years. We find it in philosophers like Nietzsche, who said “our existence has no meaning.” We find it in writers like H. P. Lovecraft who suggest that if there are gods, they are cruel and distant and couldn’t care less about humanity. We find it in scientists like Neil Degrasse Tyson, who tell us that the universe doesn’t have a purpose, but also suggests that the universe is trying hard to kill us.
It has become more and more difficult for our culture to believe that life has a purpose, that we are more than smart monkeys that are terrified of our own impending death.
Which is why we need to confess God as Creator. To say, “I believe in God the creator” is to announce that we believe life has meaning, that we have a purpose, that every single one of us matters.
