on being pursued by lesser lovers
...and the most important book I've read this year
Do you remember the Everything Skit that went viral like 15 years ago?
Apparently it wasn’t as popular as I remember but it was a defining image in my teenage walk with God.
Recently my husband and I led an AMAZING group of teenagers on an outreach in Vanuatu and they performed a slightly less intense version of this skit as part of our ministry.
And, all these years later, every time I see it I BAWL MY EYES OUT. I’m crying just writing this. It speaks to something deep in my heart.
You can see the original viral version HERE or the version our team did HERE starting at 1:47:30. I hope you will take a moment to watch it if you haven’t seen it lately! (TW for mild depictions of self-harm and suicidal ideation in the original version - ours is more chill.)
I think this skit does a beautiful job of portraying, what John Eldridge calls, the ‘lesser lovers’ that pursue our heart.
We were made to love God. But the story of humanity is a story of our hearts being wooed by other lovers. In the Old Testament these lovers were called Baal, Moloch and Ashera. Over and over God presents himself as a lovesick God, desiring relationship with his people who are constantly giving their hearts to other gods.
“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
that led them to stray so far from me?
They worshiped worthless idols,
only to become worthless themselves.
They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord
who brought us safely out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness—
The priests did not ask,
‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who taught my word ignored me,
the rulers turned against me,
and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,
wasting their time on worthless idols.
Has anyone ever heard of anything
as strange as this?
Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols!”
Jeremiah 2
A refrain of the prophets again and again (and sometimes in VERY explicit language *ahem* Ezekiel 23…) is an exhortation for the people to turn to God who wants to give them good things, rather than running after lovers who only break their hearts.
In the modern world we find Baal less appealing, but oh the lesser lovers come for us too. Pride, ambition, pleasure, romance, comfort, sex, money, popularity. The lovers that chase my heart are called Reputation, Productivity and Achievement. And I’m ashamed to say how often they win out.
Because the lie of Eve lives in my heart and I constantly mistrust God. Somewhere deep in my heart I believe that there are good and beautiful things outside of him and if I could just obtain them then I would be happy.
The problem with these things that we love and chase and give our hearts to is that they always break our heart. They must, for we were made for God and anything less can never be enough. The Everything skit shows this well.
But as always, C.S. Lewis says it best.
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
AHH THAT QUOTE WRECKS ME. Lord, forgive me for being too easily pleased.
The glorious thing is that He does! Like Hosea, he loves us in spite of our unfaithfulness, he calls us back anyway. He binds the wounds our the lesser lovers have given us. He’s so gentle. So patient. So kind.
I was meditating on Psalm 81 a lot a couple of weeks ago. You can just hear God calling out – “If only you would trust me, I would give you good things! Stop trusting other things to bring you safety, love and happiness.”
“ O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
You must never have a foreign god;
you must not bow down before a false god.
For it was I, the Lord your God,
who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
“But no, my people wouldn’t listen.
Israel did not want me around.
So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
living according to their own ideas.
Oh, that my people would listen to me!
Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”
Psalm 81
As I read this Psalm again and again, slowly, prayerfully, the truth settled a little deeper into my heart. God is so much better, so much more beautiful than all the other things that chase my heart.
I surrendered a little bit more. I loved Him a little bit better.
Something to Read – Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer
I really, really loved this book! Everyone must read it! I have read a lot of books I have loved this year but this one I think covers off on FOUNDATIONALLY important things for the Christian life in a very easy to read way so it gets my ‘most important’ prize so far this year.
I breezed through it so quickly – Comer is so easy to read. He takes the concepts of Dallas Willard and Richard Foster and other great thinkers and makes them so accessible and memorable.
I think the book does two things really well. Firstly, it helps us frame the Christian life in the language and terms of the earliest followers of Jesus. It’s a great antidote to what I like to call ‘free ticket to heaven’ Christianity. The invitation of Jesus was an invitation to follow him, be with him, become like him. It still is!
Secondly, it does such a great job of grappling with how we actually change. How the life that Jesus talked about goes beyond being a nice idea or an unattainable ideal, to an actual lived reality in our everyday lives. (AKA what do we do with the lesser lovers of our heart?) Its honest, practical, gracious and hopeful.
Something (shorter) to Read – The Singing Bowl by Malcom Guite
The last few days have been particularly difficult for me. (I’m okay but would appreciate your prayers!) This afternoon as I was sitting on the couch in a moment of quiet I read through this poem a few times and it put some wind back in my sails. It’s written by an eccentric priest and poet named Malcom Guite and I think its just lovely. Here’s a picture of a singing bowl, so you get the mental picture…
The Singing Bowl
Begin the song exactly where you are,
Remain within the world of which you’re made.
Call nothing common in the earth or air,
Accept it all and let it be for good.
Start with the very breath you breathe in now,
This moment’s pulse, this rhythm in your blood
And listen to it, ringing soft and low.
Stay with the music, words will come in time.
Slow down your breathing. Keep it deep and slow.
Become an open singing-bowl, whose chime
Is richness rising out of emptiness,
And timelessness resounding into time.
And when the heart is full of quietness
Begin the song exactly where you are.
This evening, the view of the sun setting from my widow was pure grace on a hard day. I pray you will have eyes open to the beauty of God coming to meet you today!
Rachel