My wife and I have this running joke about being indie. I leave Facebook statuses about how she shops at Native Roots Market [the local all-organic, Oklahoma-produce-carrying market] and how she shops there with her own bag she made out of a bean sack that we got from the Anasazi tribe [which my uncle, a truck driver, brought home for us] from New Mexico who grow their own fresh beans and sells in these really original bean sacks on I-40 just for us [she actually has yet to sew the bag together for use at the market]. And then I posted as my status about how there's no way I could top her indieness even if I were to put on some Death Cab [an indie band] and then start watering my herb garden with recycled bath water [which I have yet to do-because it would take a long time and would, frankly, just be a waste of my time]. And then today I came home from work and told my sweetheart that at the office I was listening to the remix of one of Death Cab's songs, Soul Meets Body, that was what I classified as "the epitome of indie house music." [which it really is] And that's our thing that we do. And it's fun :) Because I married my best friend.
In a lot of ways, I feel like we're losing our grip on the simple fun and pleasures of life. Instead of enjoying a nice joke, we enjoy tv. And it has to be slightly more graphic than last weeks program, otherwise we'll have to go to DVR to get our kicks, right? Culture, mainstream music, TV, etc is so focused on getting and through the process of getting things you get power. And that leads to a lot of other things. Sex, money, a nice house, whatever. Take vulnerability for example. It is one of the pleasurable things to do. To be vulnerable. Because to be vulnerable you have to have someone you want to know you in an intimate way (emotional, spiritual, mental, physical, etc), but you also have to take a risk. It's scary, but it's enjoyable. The world has replaced vulnerability with possessing. We go possess things and it makes us stronger and better. When in reality with Jesus, the most pleasurable and enjoyable things is to be vulnerable to Jesus' Spirit. To let him enjoy us and to be one with us while we worship him. That is something that really nothing in the world can rival. Mainstream culture, in a lot of ways, has become a smokescreen to block our view from real life with God and redirect us toward ourselves. Who grows up dreaming of enjoying life with themselves? No girl ever dreams of her wedding day to herself. No man ever dreams of sitting by himself day after day and loving it. We are positioned to enjoy others and worship that One, Jesus. It's why Jesus says we are salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). And what does salt do? It makes things taste somewhat decent. And the point I think here is that as the salt of the earth, we are suppose to love life and know it, live it, and make life good for others. We should salt the culture, we should salt 3rd world nations, we should salt everything with ourselves. We need to be in pursuit of life in Jesus and with Jesus. Living life to the fullest with our hearts fully alive with our Beloved Jesus should be our main priority, our thing that we are running after. Jesus said to the Jews who were persecuting him in John 5:39-40:
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (NIV)
How can we shine the image of God before others if we don't already have life and love with our God? We need to throw away the sinful things of this world (throw out the bad music, throw out the bad TV shows, the bad influences, the bad situations, and everything else bad) and pursue life with our Beloved Jesus. Because then we will be fully alive images of our Original, our God Jesus Christ.
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