Legends in Waiting

18. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

As the plot in the movie Legend unfolds one is struck by the amount of time that Will Smith’s character spends waiting. Waiting, a theme in the movie, is also a theme in the life of any legend, real or imaginary, in general. It takes time to make a legend. Much goes into the creation of a legend. Much work, development, crisis, endurance, …and much time, are required if legendary status is to be achieved. This is indeed what the Christmas season is all about. The Legend of legends, Jesus, was sent to us in a certain time, after much waiting. The promise of this One, having been pointed to hundreds of years prior, was fulfilled according to God’s timing. As in the movie, so it is for humanity, the cure for our virulent strain came amidst an unassuming backdrop, despite our doubts, and despite our fears that we were left alone to grope in the dark.

But what is this darkness which besets us and for which we await a cure? And why can we not just be done with it once and for all? Can we be done with it once and for all?

We do not have to look far to find the stain of darkness which hovers over us, or rather, which runs within us. This reality was highlighted in my own life just a couple of weeks ago on a tennis court of all places. Though I never fulfilled those dreams of playing big time tennis I did get the chance to play in college, and did fairly well. Now at nearly 40 yrs. old (still in my thirties, though barely), I still play, and the competitive juices still have a tendency to hit the red-line mark on occasion. A couple of weekends ago, playing in a match my partner and I should have won, I had a little flare up, lost my composure, and allowed the virulent strain of competitive anger break out. My partner and I had just won the first set, and we were up 5-2 in the second set with a match point. The other team had been completely demoralized, embarrassed, snuffed out, and otherwise destroyed–until that point. For some reason, one I still do not understand, my partner and I had a complete loss of focus and ability from that point on (don’t tell my partner, but I believe my culpability was minimal). Astoundingly, we found a way to give the match away, despite our having at least three match points, and we lost! We lost. Yes, we lost. I am over it though. Mostly. O.K. that is a lie. Sorry.

The sadder reality amidst the loss, as painful as it was (is), comes from the fact that I completely lost my cool on the court in the aftermath of that failure. In front of more than a few onlookers who know me well and more who did not, I went haywire. I threw my racquet, my shirt, my armband, and my temper. I was not a happy camper. After my little tirade (unlike any I had thrown since my college days or maybe even junior days) I was so embarrassed that I went straight to the showers and sat in the locker room for about 45 minutes and did not show my face until my next match.

I share this little story to point to the reality that we all remain in a state of waiting for the ultimate cure to our ills. The stain of sin remains in us, and we hunger for the day when it will be totally removed. The difficult reality is that we all fight against, war against, those drives within us which seek to tear us apart. Thankfully, as an adult, I have had very few moments like that on the court despite my will to win. Yet, as this little meltdown proved, I still await total freedom from dark desires which, left unchecked, would consume me. The virus of sin lingers beneath what are typically calm waters.

Each of us, if honest, are aware that we are works in progress awaiting the day when we will be free from this war against the flesh. Sin, while not always appearing grotesque in form, is within us. In reality, sin is anything which is in opposition to God’s dreams for us. A wrong relationship, an improper use of the tongue, rage, bitterness, sexual abuse, lust, a flirtatious spirit, the love of money, selfishness, egotistical pursuits, life restricting fear, …the list is seemingly endless. What we must realize is that the potential destructive ability of the sin within us must be dealt with. Ignored, the embers become a raging fire, the cough becomes a body-decaying illness. While we await the ultimate cure, life with God in eternity, we must apply the cure provided in Christ for forgiveness, healing, corrected thinking, and the ability to live above and beyond the stain of sin. In Christ, we have the ability to live with a high level of immunity from the habits which seek to consume our very lives. The One all of humanity has awaited has come, and we celebrate His Advent during this season. Just as hope arrived on the wings of a butterfly amidst the devastation of ground zero in Legend, our hope has arrived in the person and work of Jesus, born under a quiet sky in the most unexpected of places. Hope has taken flight from the heavens and landed upon our planet bringing healing and renewal in the form a baby lying in a manger. Who would have thunk it?
It is this babe in a manger who enables us to see our failing properly. It is the life of this little One who demonstrates what life should look like. The world awaited the kind of life revealed in Jesus, and His appearance has proven to be the most glorious demonstration of true living the world has ever known. The direction of our own lives is set straight as we look upon His life and as we cry out for that life to be placed within us. The one figure in all of history who was completely immune (fully human, fully God, and without sin) to the virulent strain of sin came that we might take Him in as our cure. His life becomes our life, His example our example, His hope our hope. In living within His power we overcome the darkness around us and His light illumines our hearts. Even the dark recesses of our own hearts can be cured by the brilliance of this light.

Our waiting is over, Christ has come! Freedom from the illnesses of our souls is offered to us. As we come to Him, walking out of the darkness and into the light, we find the view so much more fulfilling. Living in the afterglow of Christmas, on a daily basis, enables us to wait hopefully for that day when we shall live in eternity completely free from the strain of sin so prevalent in our world today. This is the “already, not yet” theology which thinkers have pondered for many years. We already have a glorious hope revealed in the One who has already come. He offers life and healing. And yet, in our eternal future with Him, we can look forward to a day when all of the imperfections are gone and we will be all that we were meant to be. This is a hope which gives us cause to wait (in the sense of living vibrantly) patiently and with great purpose and joy.

During this Advent season, let us set our gaze upon the life of the One who cures. He is where we find ourselves, the true self God intended for us to be. His life, and mode of living, is what we are to aim for, and is what we seek to emulate. Let us live as those already cured, pointing others to The Cure. Many are waiting for us to lead the way.

Tomorrow–suiting up to be a legend

Waiting,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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