"it's not enough"

My granddaughter Holli did a college writing assignment at Belmont last year. It was an insightful assignment to describe how Hallmark Christmas movies "glamorize" popular ideas, but not always correctly. Topics like grief, love, relationships, angels, Christmas, etc. are often presented in "feel good" ways that miss subtle issues of Christian truth. I offered her a perspective on this assignment that seemed to help her write a very nice paper. Today, I saw another example. Makes for a good blog. 

I'm watching a Hallmark Christmas movie. It's a typical tear jerker. The storyline is a teenager whose family suddenly finds he has a serious heart condition that is threatening his life. He is given only days to live without a transplant. No donor is found. He is getting worse. The mother is an active Christian who relies on her faith. The father has indulged his wife's faith and doesn't typically rock the boat. 

But crisis can change normal family dynamics.

As their son's condition worsens, the wife and mother prays more. The husband and father just hurts more. The son has another heart attack and the doctors give them little hope. The son now only has 24 hours at best unless he gets a heart transplant. No donor has been found. 

You can imagine the plot line from here. After all, it is a Hallmark movie. What caught my attention is not the story as it unfolds, that's pretty predictable. It was the response of the parents at the point of little hope their son will survive. Their response was likewise predictable, and its this predictability that is worth noting.

The mother (wife) said to the father (her husband), "all the tears, all the prayers, all the faith - it wasn't enough." In desperation the father leaves to be alone. He goes to the chapel to make a deal with God. He prays, "I'm willing to believe, please help my son."

These are very typical responses. That's why they show up in a Hallmark movie. These ideas appeal to "good people." So, what's the problem? Why blog this?

Many Christians have as their "go to" Bible verse, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." I just heard a leading Christian teacher and writer reference this verse and then share how he applies it. He, too, sees this verse similarly to these parents in the movie. Trust for them does not eliminate fear and anxiety. Trust is more like the remedy to the stress of fear and anxiety. BUT, scripture tells, "do not fear" and "be anxious for nothing." Why? Fear and anxiety comes to us as circumstances don't meet expectations. Too often Christians see this verse as a circumstantial based trust. It is a trust that God will ultimately deliver desirable outcomes in difficult situations. This view is pervasive among Christians. 

The problem is that too often Christians "lean on their own understanding" of trust."

Biblical trust is source based, not outcome based. In other words, to "trust in the Lord with all your heart" is never strengthened or weakened by what happens in life. Godly trust is a complete vulnerability to God because of who He is, not what we see He does. If Godly trust produces no fear, no anxiety, then why do we need a remedy for fear and anxiety? 

When Jesus says, "Seek first His kingdom and the righteousness you have because of His approval of you and all things will be added to you," What are "all things"? You think He is speaking of your circumstances. He has just got through referencing the blessings (fortune) of the beatitudes. All the provisions and privileges of His eternal realm, not the material benefits of a finite and temporal world. He tells His disciple Thomas, "you believe (trust) because you see, blessed are those who believe (trust) but do not see."

The Hallmark movie glorifies a faith that "needs" God to act a certain way. God needs to do what we think He should do. This is a "feel good" error. God desires for us a faith that does not need Him to "verify."

We generally know this in our head, but our fallen nature can lead us astray. When our natural biases affect our soul, we miss His Kingdom.