John 8:28

I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.

John 12:43

For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.

I’ve been thinking  this week about doing things either out of inspiration or doing things out of expectation. And I think of the difference in quality of things done under one or the other. Also, the satisfaction, or lack thereof, precipitating from either of these two.

I recall the number one regret of the dying I read about a couple months ago–I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This is sobering. I think it’s the difference of living a life out of inspiration or expectation.

You can either operate out of what you are inspired to do, or out of what is expected of you. One of those seems to be a sure fire way to heap up a nice pile of regret poo (or “regretscrement”) to taste of on your deathbed. Now there are of course times when the two, inspiration and expectation, may very well line up and be the same thing. That’s nice when that happens. But we’re talking more about who or what you’re living for.

Operating out of expectation is the main reason, I believe, that movie sequels tend to suck so bad.

Typically, a great movie is born out of inspiration. What does that mean? Let’s pause for a second and figure that out. So operating out of inspiration, to me, means acting from one’s depths of what they know to be true and beautiful and bigger than themselves–out of what is grand and elegant. It is what moves people to do something, something great–for others ultimately. It’s like what you can’t not do. Perhaps we could say we act out of our truest self when inspired. And I believe that our truest self comes from God. I think Jesus acted out of inspiration.

So you get this great movie due to inspiration. Someone has this awesome story welling up from their authentic core (soul) that they must release and bless us with. We laugh, we cry, we get inspired.

Then.

So many times, people beg for a sequel. Why settle for one when you can have two for twice the price! Corporate begs for a sequel (AKA more money). Hey people loved the first one, they’ll love the second one! Right? So the sequel is more often birthed out of expectations. Let’s please people and give them what they want, or at least what they will buy, instead of create something out of what is springing forth from our truest self. And because of this, the sequel sucks.

I felt myself slipping into this a little bit back in Septemberish, which is why I stopped writing these little dithyrambs everyday. I didn’t want them to turn into amphigories, am I right? (I love using new words!) I wrote purely out of inspiration for quite a while. But then needed a break. Or a nap. Or something. Anyway, the point is, I felt myself doing it because I was suppose to. Mainly because of expectations I laid on myself. Thankfully I caught it, I think before they got too awful.

Enough about me.

Let’s talk about you now.

Do you feel this? Do you have those favorite bands who just never could match the intensity or inspiration of their first album..? Do you do anything now just because it is expected of you? What would you really like to do? What is inside of you? What’s always been there? What do you feel led to do? What do you feel is the truest thing you know that you want to pursue? What really moves you and gives you life? How do you think this links to the verses above? Or does it not?

In all fairness, some sequels are awesome because they too are born out of the original vision/inspiration. Or perhaps there is actually new inspiration.

Also, we are not talking here about flippantly doing whatever you feel like all the time. It’s much deeper than that.

There are many responsibilities and many boring things we do, ultimately out of inspiration–changing diapers out of love etc.

The greatest gift we can give humanity is to give ourselves fully to God so that everyone we come into contact with is touched by His supernatural Love always flowing through us.

Prioritize God above all else in your life, and you will have automatically prioritized others above yourself.

Participants become boosters.

Spectators become critics.

John 4:34

Then Jesus explained, “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.”

John 6:38

“For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.”

Let us start off by defining these two very rich and meaningful words.

Telos- This is your ultimate end goal. Fulfillment or completion. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the “arche” and “telos” of our faith, that is, the origin and the finishing.

Theosis-The process in which God’s life fills and transforms us; in the end, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. One’s essential being is filled with the presence of God. It is something more than merely resembling Jesus, more than merely “following.” It is transformation.

For early Christians, from what I read of their writings, theosis was their goal in life. All of life’s energies were marshaled towards that end, and all of life flowed from that end.

Is this still our goal today? Our telos?

For many Christians, it seems that this is not the number one priority in life. Now we could reiterate the cliche false goals of life, like making lots of money, or gaining power and status, but those idols do not convict on the ground level for many of us now.

There are other, perhaps more subtle, idols (ultimate goals) which we enthrone upon our hearts where only God is meant to reside. What about the goal of living a pain-free life? More specifically, an emotionally pain-free life. Now I can’t blame anyone for their desire for this, but how realistic is it? I mean, am I being a good father to my daughters by raising them and training them to live pain-free–to work hard to avoid or numb pain?

Let me know how that turns out for you, girls.

A better way would be to prepare them for when pain comes, for when people hurt you. Cause it’s comin’, baby.

Or how about the other big one, the goal of living in comfort? Oh man is this a life-stealer, as paradoxical as that sounds. Think of the effort we expend to live comfortably. Think of who and what we probably miss seeing while preoccupied with ourselves and our own comfort. Again, it’s not all bad, but cannot be our telos.

Or the other one I also definitely fight, the goal of being liked and well thought of. Expending the majority of our energy upon this ridiculosity blinds us from simply being loving, in which case we’ll probably be liked and well thought of anyway!

I don’t see these three in Scripture or Jesus’ teaching as being ultimate end goals or bringing Life that really is life.

Jesus embraced our humanity–pain, discomfort, betrayal and all–and yet lived a life incredibly amazing because His telos was theosis. What mattered to Him besides doing His Father’s will and being one with Him (Jn.10:30) ? Since that was all that ultimately mattered to Him, He lived life to the fullest.

Could this be much of what is off with American Christianity today? Why, for many at least, we’re so depressed, medicated, and preoccupied with self? That theosis is no longer our telos? That the reason we were created is no longer our reason for living?