"All around me are familiar faces
Worn-out places, worn-out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere...
When people run in circles, it's a very, very mad world."
Mad World by Tears for Fears, 1982
Every day, there are a million voices vying for our attention and the loudest voice wins. We've gotta be really careful what narrative we are listening to and what kingdom we are empowering, especially when we consider:
Many voices lead to spiritual famine; only One leads to spiritual freedom
Many voices echo the Accuser; only One came as the Advocate
Many voices push you off into isolation; only One pulls you close into intimacy
Many voices clothe you in rejection; only One clothes you in redemption
Many voices lie; Only One came as the "Truth"
In a culture that carries a love-hate obsession with narratives of rejection, entitlement, outrage, and offense, many people find themselves entrenched in the well-worn muddy ruts of a very mad world. But what if there's a higher, truer road that rises above the horizons of self-loathing and scapegoating, driving you straight from madness into the arms of the God who is madly in love with you?
"Lord, your nurturing love is tender and gentle. You are slow to get angry yet so swift to show your faithful love. You are full of abounding grace and truth." Ps. 86:15 TPT
See also Ps. 36:5, Jer. 31:3, Lam. 3:22, Zeph. 3:17, 1 John 3:1.
God's love for us, despite our involuntary shortcomings and even our willful rebellion, is one of the truest demonstrations of His grace. In MANY places in the Bible (including the verse above), we are told that our God -- the One voice of truth and life and freedom and joy -- is ABOUNDING in grace. The word means to possess something in such excess, it can't help but spill out over everything in the surrounding vicinity.
Have you ever watched a child try to pour a glass of milk, only to massively overflow their little cup, emptying the entire contents of the gallon jug onto the kitchen floor below? God's love and His grace are like that. They are lavishly and recklessly poured out over all He has made. What's more, both are never-ending. And here's the point when it comes to what voice we listen to: we are either being hardened into the image of GRUMBLING, or we are being lovingly shaped into the image of GRATITUDE.
Since God is overflowing continually in GRACE, we can overflow continually in GRATITUDE!
Grace could be defined as coming alive to the kindness and adoration of a God who does not give us the bad we deserve.
Gratitude could be seen as opening our eyes to the kindness and adoration of a God who is presently lavishing a million blessings on us that we could never deserve.
Rhythms of grace and gratitude matter so much to me, I've devoted an entire chapter in my book, 'En(d)titlement' to them, but below is just one small sample of how we can begin to make the shift today of which voice we are allowing to chart the course of our lives.
LIVING “FROM”:
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!” Revelation 12:10-12
There is a day coming soon when everything you and I have hoped, longed, prayed, and waited for will finally be unveiled in all of its fullness. The system of accusation and scapegoating will be silenced for the last time, never to be heard again. And finally, all we will see is Jesus. This glimpse of future glory gives us much hope in the present moment. But notice something else in this passage from Revelation 12. It isn’t about just holding on for heaven. Here in plain sight we are met with three present realities of the Gospel that we can live from today.
We triumph by the blood of the Lamb. At the Cross, Jesus summed up His entire work, declaring, “It is finished!” This three word phrase is actually just one word in Greek, tetelestai, literally meaning “paid in full.” The work of the Cross has been paid in full and is yours forever. It’s done. Period. In an age where everyone longs to receive a fresh word that will give them peace, what could happen if we would actually believe a finished work that says it’s ours already? We can elevate the substance of His sacrifice over our circumstances.
We triumph by the word of our testimony. Every place someone applies the blood of the Lamb to their present circumstances, the result is a testimony that makes demons tremble and hell crumble. God is writing your story right now. He never slumbers or sleeps. Right now, He is interceding for your best and dancing over you. Wanna have faith for this present moment? Stop and remind your heart the last place you saw Him prove faithful. Begin to declare your testimony aloud.
We triumph by making Jesus our treasure. When we say like Paul, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain,” we bankrupt every power of darkness as they see and we see that there is nothing left to be held over our heads. In an ironic twist, those who no longer shrink from death are the very ones able to experience the delirious goodness of life. Nothing can take our joy, because all we desire is Him. We can end all the exhaustion of securing and insuring and just be His.
When the voice of our accuser and every broken thing that is still in process of bowing its knee to Jesus gets loud, the Blood of the Lamb speaks louder.
When our feelings attempt to redefine what story we are in, the word of our testimony reminds our hearts of every place our God has been faithful and will be again.
When fear and loss come to flex their muscles, Jesus our treasure reveals them as insignificant and impotent.
The Blood of the Lamb is ours.
We have a testimony.
Jesus is our treasure.
If we'd catch just a glimpse of Him today, we would witness our "Mad World" being re-made before our eyes by the One who is Madly in Love with us all. Jesus, speak louder!
Adapted from En(d)titlement, © 2023 by Chuck Ammons. Available on www.amazon.com
