“We tend to complain about what’s wrong rather than celebrate what’s right. . . . It’s part and parcel of original doubt. We can find something wrong with anything. . . . We get bent out of shape by one thing that is off-limits in the most glorious garden ever planted. This reveals something about human nature in general and sin nature in particular: We want what we can’t have.”- Mark Batterson
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband . . . and he ate it.”- Genesis 3:6 (NIV)
As Mark Batterson moves on in Chapter 7 of A Million Little Miracles, he stresses that, in the kingdom of God, identity is received. Not achieved. Part of a package deal purchased at Calvary’s cross. Therefore, Mark exhorts, in Christ you are:
- a new creation.
- the image of God.
- the apple of God’s eye.
- God’s workmanship.
- more than a conqueror.
Consequently, Pastor Batterson asserts, false humility = believing anything else. Because false humility fails to glorify God. In addition, it discounts what Christ accomplished on the cross. So, Mark cautions, don’t let anyone label you who didn’t make you. As Jessica Houton Wilson notes, if you spend half your day consuming the world’s narratives about who you are, what you want, and how to love, that idolatrous imagination forms you.
Most significantly, Mark views all identity issues as fundamental misunderstandings of who God is. For example, the author sees trust issues as a misapprehension of God’s goodness.
Furthermore, Mark defines the lie that God cannot be trusted as the first lie. As George Lakoff, an American cognitive linguist and philosopher, astutely observed:
“There is a basic truth about framing. If you accept the other guy’s frame, you lose.”
In conclusion, Mark states, over three hundred thousand edible plant species exist. So, while 299,999 were available to Adam and Eve, they chose the only one off-limits. Because Satan focused their attention there.
Today’s question: Do you see our tendency to complain as part and parcel of original doubt? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The life lie – guiding fiction”