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Alive...

 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (I John 5:12) 

I’m still limping after yesterday’s emotional crash and burn. I left my blog as raw as it was – not cleaning it up to make myself look better – because it vividly demonstrates the pit that our defensiveness protects us and others from. But yesterday’s pain makes the balm of today’s verse welcome. It’s not about feelings. It’s about Him. No matter how undeserving, pathetic, ugly, or hellish I may be, if I have Him, I have life, period. If I have Him, therefore, it is possible, and possibly assured, that over time I will exhibit evidence of that life, even if I can’t see it and even if the me in the pit suggests otherwise. Therefore, at least in theory, there is hope.

The verse finishes with a negation. If you don’t have the Son, you don’t have life. If doesn’t matter how pretty, nice, kind, tolerant, loving, wise, and generous you are. It doesn’t matter how many positive things can be said about you; you do not have life. People sometimes complain that saying such things is judgmental, cruel, and evil. But if you walk into a room and find a person sitting in a chair, and that person doesn’t answer when spoken to, has no pulse, isn’t breathing, etc., it does one no good to say nice things. 

Your better bet is – if there are no obvious injuries – to pull the person off the chair, dump them on the floor (with some degree of gentleness if possible) and begin CRP even if it might break their ribs. If they were alive and conscious, they wouldn’t appreciate the process, but if there is any chance for them to live, it involves some aggressive moves on your part – what would constitute assault on someone alive and conscious.

I’m not saying any of this as a justification for bullying or abuse. I’m just saying that what makes one alive is the Son, not us, and not how good or bad we have been and telling someone they’re alive when they don’t have the Son doesn’t do the person any good.

And, returning to where this post started, I suspect that every once in a while, it might do us some good to get a glimpse of the thing in the pit, because our negative reactions to it, the jumping back, the racing heart, the tears, the disgust, etc., well, it shows we aren’t dead.

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