Brushed
Hebrews 13:9 Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them. Heb 13:10 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot.
Have you ever had a brush with a famous person? You know, the time you happened to see that favorite movie star, shake their hand or get their autograph? There might even have been a point at which you hung out with someone of note, getting to know them on a personal level? There is something about the greatness, (in fame or accomplishments) of another that can bring a source of self validation or worth when it personally touches our lives in some way. That thing they have touched, that word they’ve spoken or that place they’ve lived can become a marketable commodity for the industrious entrepreneur.
On the way to the pawn shop to look at guitars with the boys yesterday, we were talking about race cars, and somehow I was reminded of my Dad’s friendship with a famous driver. Though there wasn’t really much to tell beyond the fact that Dad had played with him as a child, there was a certain amount of obtained from letting them know about this person they hadn’t even heard of- how he was actually a personal friend of my father’s. Not him, but his fame became a source of pride for me.
We went on to the pawn shop where Haydn wanted me to look at this Takamine acoustic guitar. It was a nice sounding guitar, but there was something a bit unique about it. On the back there were several autographs. For all we knew they could have been from a tooth brush sales team, but of course we speculated that surely they were from some famous band with whom the former owner had a ‘fame brush’. Scribbled quite unintelligibly, there was a flare to the sweeping pen strokes that indicated this wasn’t the first time this person had done this. Their touch on something was valued by many that had come to appreciate their accomplishments. While the value of their success was in a way represented by the display of their signature on this guitar, we were very far removed from even knowing their hair color or their favorite football team- anything about them personally.
The most Famous One has left His mark all over the place. It is easy to become enamored with the excellence of His productivity and to let those things He’s touched become the object of our self validation. Even the words He’s spoken can themselves become an acquisition that brings attention to us in our possession of them. There really is a never ending resource for the one desiring to improve his own impression through the use of God’s fame. There really is an opportunity for the industrious entrepreneur to take much personally from a brush with His greatness. Like the signature on the back of the guitar, though, or the story of the race car driver, there really is no personal relationship to be experienced in just the evidence of His having passed by. While it may be tempting to get caught up with the marketing of His accomplishments, there is a much greater opportunity for the one that will listen to his heart.
There is a trophy room where the walls are lined with world creating awards and ‘world changer’ portraits. To enter this room is to be surrounded by evidence of the owner’s presence. Waiting in that room, though, is something much more valuable and significant than any representation of past accomplishments or claims to special understanding. Sitting there in His elevated throne is the very One who has no equal in acquired accolades, the One who has achieved more in one moment than any man in a lifetime. While it is popular to spend eternity focusing on the conversation pieces surrounding the throne, there is an opportunity to actually go right up to the Father himself, to talk with Him personally and experience a relationship that gains all it validation from Him and Him alone. This, while the most precious experience of any lifetime, is something that can never be marketed, never used for self promotion, because as soon as it is seen as a commodity, it is lost. To really know Him is to be consumed by the dominance of His grace that supercedes any thoughts of self promotion at His expense.
Once touched by Him, all of life will look different. His flare for creativity will surround every moment. But, as He is really known the less will be the need to trumpet this knowledge for the elevation of self impression. The nearer to Him, the further from the market place.
