Finding God In The RuinsSample

Redemption

The truth is, redemption has been misunderstood. Modern Christianity has defined it this way:
Redemption (rĭ-dĕmp′shən) n. – A state of existence where The Faithful to God receive what they expect to receive out of life (and out of God), and what ails them is converted into something fresh and new. (Getting the desires of one’s heart.)

When this definition of redemption is the hallmark of our faith, it creates a real problem for us and for others. It becomes difficult to approach God outside the context of getting what we want, which leads to either disillusionment with God or a tremendously petty and shallow faith experience. When God doesn’t wipe the slate clean for us, or a problem lingers for too long, we begin writing our own version of Christianity, pretending that solutions are simple, black and white, or based on our good works and faithful prayers rather than God’s grace.

To others, this dumbing down of our faith is either an overexposed snapshot of God that is too much of a good thing, or an underdeveloped Polaroid that doesn’t look a thing like him. And it is one of the main reasons Christians come across as out of touch, irrelevant, or even cruel to the rest of the world.

We might not be able to fully admit it yet, but deep down many of us believe that God owes us. We think that because we are chosen – God should deliver. As children, many of us memorized verses like Psalms 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” But when things didn’t come to pass we felt tricked. To us, his promise of redemption, to give us a good life, was a transacted agreement with his signature on the dotted line, and he either needed to pay up or be sent to collections.

We think of the word “redeemed” and imagine the removal of pain. We see something broken in our lives or in the lives of others and imagine it getting fixed within a certain time frame. “Dear God, please take this away…or that away…help me do this…or stop doing that…please make this or that happen for me, us, them.”

But things do not always work out, do they? In fact, incredibly important things do not always work out. People get cancer or give birth to babies with two kinds of genitalia; they put a bullet in their head when they can no longer see themselves in this world, or they unknowingly stumble upon an addiction and the best years of their life are rung out like a washrag.

And so it seems that the very word “redeemed” needs its own personal redemption.