Day Thirty-Two

Day Thirty-Two // April 2 // Rebellion

“Those who will defend authority against rebellion must not, themselves, rebel.” – J. R. R. Tolkien –

“No.” It is, regrettably, one of the first words we ever learn as a child. “No” to Mom. “No” to Dad. “No” to peas, carrots and beans. “No,” we chortle as we learn to make our decisions. But, as we age, our “no” becomes a little less endearing. We say “no” to curfews and “no” to limits. We say “no” to all that we think is trying to restrain us from fun – never understanding then what (I hope) we know now: that all those restraints were really just trying to keep us safe.

There is a part of us, though, that never learns that lesson. We live with the constant voice of adolescent rebellion stirring in our guts. We don’t like limits. We

don’t like restriction. Ironically, we don’t like being told no. So, we take matters into our own aged-but-stillinfantile hands.

We are rebels, you and I. It’s the Gospel’s truth. We’ve rebelled against God’s love; we’ve rebelled against His law. Like impudent teenagers, we have defied the will and expectations of our heavenly Father – and we fear getting caught.

But here’s the thing: the best thing in the world for us is to get caught – to get caught by the One who loved us enough to die for us, to get caught by the One who wants to forgive us and to set our feet on a new and better path. For, like all good and caring parents, God’s limits were never intended to hamper us; they were intended to free us – to free us to live that life that is really life, not to settle for settling, not to endure enduring. The life God calls us to is not a cheap imitation of life; it is life unimaginable, life uncontainable, life eternal – a life made possible only by His death.

For it is in dying to ourselves – rebelling against all our lower angels and against all the whims of our mortal flesh – that we find that sort of life. It is in following Jesus’ own example of surrender, in Jesus’ own act of defiance – defying His own will, defying His own wants, defying His own desires for safety and comfort and ease – that we find the courage to trust God’s good intentions for us, that we finally find the courage to say “yes!”