My psycholinguistics professor said something really interesting in his intro lecture, that just screamed Revelation at me. He said we study psycholinguistics "on the seams of language." When we want to figure out how our brains process and language and how the mechanics of it work, where do we go? We look to the places where it's breaking down. From the extremes (like aphasias and impairments) to minor things (like statistically frequent speech errors and hesitations) - we find the places where language doesn't quite work to figure out how it should work.
So in the context of Revelation, how do we figure out what real "reality" looks like? I think lots of times we get to look to the "seams of reality". Where does "reality" break down? Where are the places that what seems to be true just doesn't quite work anymore? I think, like language, we get to peak through those tearing seams to see how things really work because it's in those places that Christ and His true reality are bursting through.
As for Revelation 2, my Savior's words: "You have forgotten your first love," hit me just as hard as they have been hitting me for the past few months. I can hear the sorrow in His voice so clearly. "I miss you. Let's hang out - like old times."
At the end of last summer, I found myself wondering what on earth had happened to me. Why was I so amazingly disenchanted and discouraged? The answer came so clearly from that verse - I'd forgotten my first love. And I missed Him.
One thing from Darrell that I found especially encouraging on that note was this quote from Earl Palmer:
The irony of this latter condition of the 'Ephesus syndrome' is that the Christian becomes totally preoccupied, fascinated with themes and goals which would never have won him or her in the first place to have joined the church.
The encouragement is that all I need to do is open my eyes! I can see the people around me that He is pursuing so faithfully, those that are so close to the point of finally choosing Him, and discover what it is that's drawing them in. It's like when everyone in the family is starting to get over the excitement of Christmas because Santa's not magic anymore and we're a little too weary from the day-to-day to get really excited. But what happens when another little cousin comes along? All of a sudden, everyone becomes ecstatic about Christmas again. First it's just for the sake of the kid, but pretty soon, we're enjoying it more deeply of our own right. What a blessing that He provides the little shot in the arm we need by showing reminding of the innocence with which we used to view those same things.
Where DOES "reality" break down? Where are the places that what seems to be true just doesn't quite work anymore?
ReplyDeleteI went to a Veritas Forum on tuesday night on "Altruism in Evolution", where two professors gave their views on possible origins of altruism (essentially sacrificial servant-love) from the perspective of evolutionary theory. But I found myself grinding all of their hypotheses down to organisms still acting in their own self interest. I then thought about something Darrell had said.
"Although He {Christ} was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not take advantage of this equality." -Philippians 2:6 (God's Word Translation, who uses that?)
When Yeshua considers what it looks like to live as a God-Man, His response is a towel, water basin, and a cross. THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM! While this world claims that the only reason for action is self-interest, Yahweh reveals something different about our own selves, being image-bearers of Him. We walk out what we were intended to be when we shed our self-interest by becoming living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him.