Pat Maulsen, the Idealist

No preamble this time- just gonna get straight to it.  The thing that's been on my mind all week has been this: what is it that prevents people from living the way they know they need to live?  It happens far too often: we have an ideal way to do something; whether that is raising a family, interacting with friends or associates, making dinner, or anything in between.  And yet, we fail to live up to the standard.  We take shortcuts, make compromises, and ultimately fall short of the ideal.

I am chiefly interested in why man seems to fail at living an upright, righteous life.  Before I begin, there is, I think, a necessary distinction that I need to make for anyone who may be reading this who is not a Christian.  I am coming at this from a Christian point of view, so what I really am asking is "why does man fail to obey God and follow in the path He has laid out for him?"  That phrasing is important for the following reason:

C.S. Lewis rightly pointed out that it is always better to speak of rules and obedience rather than ideals and idealism.  The reason, according to Lewis, is that when we speak of ideals, people may be inclined to conclude that morality is subjective.  When we say that a man has "high ideals" when he tries hard to be a righteous man, we may be tempted to think that moral righteousness is a private taste unique to the man, much in the same way that a man can say that he has attained his "ideal" woman or car (that is, the woman or the car is something which he considers 'ideal', but no one else is called to have the same ideals in women or cars unless they are rather foolish).  To think such a thing would be a mistake.  Perfect behavior is prescribed as the ideal for all men by the very nature of being a man in much the same way that perfect algebraic calculations are the ideal for all mathematicians.  You see, of course, how silly it becomes then for anyone to feel proud that they have high moral standards: perfect calculations in math are a high ideal, but there is nothing praiseworthy about trying to get the questions right; it would be idiotic not to since every mistake you make will cause you trouble in subsequent calculations.  Likewise, there is nothing praiseworthy about trying to be morally perfect- it is the standard.  Every moral failure will cause problems for you and those around you.

God has laid out a path of righteousness for all who would know him.  We are told in the Word that the whole point of our salvation was to do good works for the glory of God (Ephesians 2:10).  So knowing all this, the question remains: why do we deviate from the path?

So often we go through life stuck in the routine.  We lose sight of what we are living for and get stuck in the moment.  There is another distinction that must be made now.  There is a modern sentiment (and much of it well meaning) that tells us that we must not dwell on the future or past, but focus on the here and now.  I think that this is right if people mean it one way and wrong if they mean it another.  Allow me to explain.  People are right to say that we should dwell on the here and now if by that they mean that we ought not spend so much time worrying about what the future might hold.  Even Jesus said this when he told us "do not worry about tomorrow for each day has enough trouble of its own."  The idea to take away is that we should trust God to provide and not give in to fear, which has no place in our lives.

But people are wrong in saying this if by it they mean that we should live life carefree and recklessly without considering the outcome of our actions.  I believe that this is what most "modern" people mean when they tell you not to worry about the future.  It's the old "don't take life too seriously because no one makes it out alive anyway" joke.  But, of course, that's rubbish.  We do make it out alive, and what's more, we live on forever- either in the eternal presence of God (heaven) or the eternal non-presence of God (hell).  Therefore it is immensely important to take consideration of the future.

It is best defined by Pastor Mark Driscoll when he says we should "reverse engineer our lives."  In other words, we should live life forward, but define it backward.  We must first consider the outcome, namely, our eternal destiny, and then live with the end constantly in mind.  So many times, I lose sight of the goal.  My vision clouds and I cannot see the End.  It is when this happens that I begin to slip up in my life.  Begin to compromise.  Begin to backslide.

In Revelation, Jesus has a message for the church in Ephesus.  He commends them on overcoming all sorts of trials and remaining faithful and yet he has this to say:
"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.  Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first" (Revelation 2:4)

That's a scary thing to hear your savior say to you: "you don't love me like you used to".  And therein, we arrive at the answer to the original question.  We come to love sin more than God, and so we deviate from the path of righteousness!  Oh, that we would remember what it was like to have that intoxicating love for God that we first had when he rescued us from ourselves for the first time!  God my prayer is that you would turn our hearts back to you again!

Luckily for us, God is patient and long suffering.  It comes with the territory of love, which he lays claim to.  If you are reading this and you have been waiting around in a stupor, doing your own thing, following your own path even though you have been saved by God, remember your first love!  If you are not yet convinced that following God is the path for you, then try it and see how much better it is!  But I warn you, you will embark on an endeavor that will require your whole effort.  Giving anything less than your all is to not fully know God and the calling he has for your life.  Finally, the message to all readers: put to death the things that hold you tight that are not from God.  Do it now!  The gradual process is of no use whatsoever.  The only way to achieve success in this area is to remove the cancer of sin with extreme prejudice.  It can be achieved quite easily if only you will rest in God's power.

Peace.