A Note from Paro
Hi there! I’m Paro. Guess you’re here because my video made sense to you.
But seriously, how many takes do we need before we get that perfect selfie? How many filters do we try before we feel our image is ready for Instagram? Do we even admit this to ourselves?
By the time we have presented so many versions of ourselves to the world, do we sometimes find it hard to recall who the ‘real me’ is? Are you terrified at the thought that if you dropped your guard for one second, if people caught sight of who you really are, then it would be a case of ‘game’s up, party’s over’?
A song by Francesca Battistelli says,
“Truth is harder than a lie
Dark seems safer than the light
Everyone has a heart that wants to hide”
WANT TO DISCUSS THIS WITH SOMEONE?
( You can Email us or Message us on Facebook👇)
The song goes on to say:
“If we’re honest, it will change our lives, set us free”
Is that true? What does honesty have to do with freedom?
There is a story in the bible of a woman just like us, her name was Martha. When Jesus and his disciples landed up at her home as an unexpected guest, she went all out to be the best possible host. Martha worked hard to feed the tired travelers a nice hot meal, she rushed to clear up the house, and serve drinks. She felt useful, but also quite anxious that everything should be perfect for her guests.
There is a story in the Bible that takes a look at this question, through an interesting conversation that Jesus struck up with a woman at a well in the town of Samaria.
Jesus had a weird way of saying ‘Hello’. Instead of talking about the weather or smiling politely, he says to the woman “Give me a drink”. But basically, it’s a ploy to get the woman talking about the subject of thirst. She goes on and on, on various digressions talking about social norms and religious debates and then Jesus says a most unexpected and enigmatic thing to her:
“If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
The woman has no idea what Jesus means! Instead of explaining right away, Jesus begins to peel away layers of her pretense- turns out he knows everything about her sordid past and present- her failed marriages, her live-in relationship. It seems like a rather brutal way of making friends, to say “Hey, I know all your dirty secrets, all your flaws and weaknesses”.
As Jesus lists out the woman’s imperfections, she realizes how far short she falls of expectations. Of her own expectation of herself, of society’s expectation. And most definitely of her God’s expectations of her. She is never going to measure up. She will always fall short. She thirsts for freedom from her own self-destructiveness, she thirsts for acceptance, she thirsts for significance. Nobody knows our sins, our imperfections better than we do.
What are you thirsty for today?
What are you longing for? Success? Stability?
Security in love? A fresh start, a clean slate? To turn back time?
WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT THIS?
( You can Email us or Message us on Facebook👇)
Is everyone thirsty? Take it from the celebrities themselves:
Russel Brand:
“I thought it would be good to be rich and famous. It would be the opposite of this. It would be good to have money, to be invited to parties, but I’ve been inside now, I’ve seen the other side of the looking glass, it aint F-ing worth it. It’s not gonna feed your soul, I am still feeling empty inside”
Eric Clapton:
“I had everything. I was a millionaire, I had beautiful women in my life, I had cars, a house, a solid gold career, and a future, and yet on a daily basis, I wanted to commit suicide.”
John Lennon:
“A a Beatle, we made it. And there was nothing to do. We had money, we had fame, and there was no joy.”
So as Jesus lists out the woman’s inadequacies, she says, “But a savior is coming, the Messiah, my ancestors and I have been waiting for years and years for him to come, and when he does, he will save us from all our inadequacies, from my thirst of never measuring up, of never being good enough. He will put an end to this thirst.”
Jesus can’t hold back his big surprise any longer. He has set up the conversation, dropped the hint and now he almost yells excitedly,
“I am He,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
He basically says to the woman, ‘It’s me, I’m the one you’re waiting for, the one who can save you from your inadequacies! As you can see, I know your story, but what I really want is your number. Your friendship. “You had me at hello” as the famous line from the movie goes.’
The Christian word for this undeserved friendship extended by God is Grace.
How is Grace different from Kindness?
Kindness can be given in a patronizing, paternalistic way. We can be kind to a homeless person, or even an animal, as an act of charity.
Grace is different. It elevates the one you are showing grace toward. God’s grace toward us puts us on a whole new level: God now judges us as if we had never sinned, because his son Jesus took the blame for our sins. That’s quite different from God deciding to be kind toward us. This is God claiming that we are his equals, it’s a scandal because it’s God making friends with man who is not in his league at all. And he says- look you’re my friend, I’m always crazy about you, always ready to meet you wherever you’re at. You never have to earn my favour before we meet up.
“While we were sinners”, the Bible says, “God showed his love for us” in the most extreme form “by dying for us.”
Someone had to take the punishment for our sins, and God volunteered to do that, by sending his own son to take the blame, to die instead of us, so that we could have eternal life instead of the death that we deserved.
The first thing God did was to prove his own love, before he asked anything of us. He decided that the most irrefutable proof – was to offer the thing that cost him the most, that tore his heart in two- his only son as a sacrifice so that our slate was wiped clean and he could extend the grace of friendship to us.
This was the greatest act of generosity. So what does God require from us in response?
You and I have to be willing to say- “Ok, I have to put this generosity, this offer of friendship to the test”. This can only be done by looking at it from the inside, ‘in a relationship’ as some Facebook updates helpfully tell us.
He wants us to accept his friendship, and help us navigate life. So put aside those masks, and with his friendship you can enjoy being yourself!
WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT THIS?
( You can Email us or Message us on Facebook👇)