I always thought it odd when flight attendants would say in their pre- flight announcements:
Now, if for any reason we should experience a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from overhead. Pull tightly on the cord to begin the flow of oxygen and place the mask over your nose and mouth and breathe normally, then help children and others with their masks.
My initial thought was: yeah right, who’s going to put his mask on first then help the kids? I always felt noble as a father when I would smile protectively at one of my daughters sitting next to me on the plane during those announcements. Don’t worry honey, Daddy will take care of yours first. I’m sure you’re two steps ahead of me here. If those masks ever drop, you can guarantee that something has gone wrong.
It is not a selfish pursuit to mask up; it is a necessary one in order to be of help to my loved ones and even to total strangers for that matter. And also it is with the emphasis on your heart and getting it back, on becoming whole hearted. It is with a whole heart that we live and love well.
To focus on the recovery of our hearts is not selfish; it is necessary, especially when it comes to helping others find the Life and Love they are searching for and Who is searching for them.
When we discover or uncover, expand or deepen our understanding of one of the Larger Story elements—God’s love, our significance and value, the enemy’s evil, the unholy trinity or the mission of Christ—then all the other elements will move with it. A clearer picture of God’s love for me makes me realize I’m more valuable to Him than I knew. The relationship I was created to have and experience with Him is one thwarted by an enemy who would rather I not live connected and intimate with my Father. For when I begin to live this way, others will watch, see, hear and sense that something is different.
And if they will walk out of the concentration camp as I did, they will also experience a new freedom and life. Living in a new Kingdom under a gloriously kind and loving King means bad news for the old kingdom ruled by an evil and sinister prince.
One of the greatest expeditions a heart can enter into is learning how to live anew as a Kingdom citizen and not be pulled back into old ways. It will also be the greatest battle a heart will know. If you want this Love and this Life, you’re going to have to fight for it. It will not be easy, it will not be quick, and you are going to need a lot of help.
Living newly, with a new normal, is the hope and mission of the Spirit of God. As the Spirit works in and partners with the hearts of those connected to Him, living newly will be the reality. This new life will not be one in which we do everything right from now on, but rather we will know the One who is there to help us after we’ve done something wrong. It’s going to take time to learn this new way to live.
After placing our life in the hands of the Author of Life, is it possible that we will stumble or struggle? Will we get lost again? You bet! But it will be without the previous aftershocks of our mistakes—the guilt, shame, fear, condemnation—when the best we could expect after blowing it was groveling our way back to some remotely safe place to lick our battle wounds.
Can we be taken captive again? Can we lose sight again? You bet, but not like before. The wrong turns we make, the poor decisions we execute, are being and will be redeemed. We are to work out our salvation, and God is with us and for us as we do.
He will provide ways for us to go where we’ve never gone, choose what we hadn’t known was available and live in a way we didn’t know was an option!
