Week 40—Monday 1 John 3:17-18
Week 40—MONDAY
“DRUNK WITH THE WINE OF HIS OWN WORDINESS”
We continue to look at the cancellation of the universal by failure in the particular. An Indian friend described the attitude of a man “drunk with the wine of his own wordiness” who “described the Universal God in glowing terms in a public meeting and then would probably go home and worship a three-legged cow if he met one.” He canceled out his verbal universal by his particular. The universal had no particular and therefore was no universal.
In Japan we presented the plan of Federal Union of the churches around Christ as the center. A leading layman got up and said, “All the churches in this city have already come together in a union. We united around a common graveyard.” The union was around the dead! The universal—the union—had no particular except the graveyard—hardly a basis of union!
People have become tired of words—they have become slick like much-used coin, so in many places instead of words they have turned to pantomime, acting out the words. But this is acting out the words, instead of acting. It is the Word become shadow instead of the Word become flesh. It is this side of reality.
The whole trend of TV addiction is a symptom of escapism—action by proxy instead of action by person. We let someone else do the acting for us—on a screen. Those who give themselves to this deteriorate. For it is the Word become picture instead of the Word become flesh. A nation of TV viewers is no substitute for life-doers. It becomes a nation of secondhanders, incapable of coming firsthand with life. At the close of the average movie you are not supposed to do anything—you are supposed to feel. But impression minus expression equals depression. So it ultimately ends in depression.
O Lord and Savior, save us from the make-believe, the halfway, the substitute. We would be firsthanders. Take from us the willingness to be persons just-this-side-of-reality. We want to see you and embody you. Fully and wholly. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Half-wayism in dedication is whole-wayism in decay.