Clear - Chapter One

Several people have asked me to post some excerpts from Clear, so here's the first of seven posts with a pericope from each of the chapters.

Chapter One — Clear

LET ME BE CLEAR… MONTE YOUNG IS A LIAR.

I have told so many whoppers in my life that if—for some reason—I would be required to correct the lies, I would have no idea where to start, nor with whom to begin the confession.

I figured I’d get your attention right off the bat with that acknowledgement. While some readers may be laughing, others are slamming their fists into their hands saying, “I knew it!” Still others of you are a bit intrigued by this open confession so early in the narrative.

Standards of writing compel me to softly entice you into my web of prose, then—when you’re completely surrounded by the verbiage—deliver the crushing blow of syntax and jargon. Well, I’ve never been one for standards, as they tend to mutate the individual into a faceless drone of conformity that is devoid of passionate personality and God-inspired expression. So I’ll dispense with the status quo and drop the bomb first then work backwards from there.

Yes, I am a liar by nature, but this is not about me, it is about the God Who lives in me. While I’m am a sinner extraordinaire, my God is pure and holy, and beautiful. If at any point you see me rather than Him, then I’ve become less clear. The purpose of this tome is to tell a bit of a life’s story and to share the illumination that came from hitting the very bottom. My prayer is that this may in some way help people who are struggling with their identity in God by showing them the power of transparency.

I want to tell some of the story of my life, primarily focusing on the last seven years or so. While there may be other details of my past that would make great book fodder, I’ll save those for possible future endeavors. The reason the past seven years hold such great import for me is that these are years in which I have been learning to be a true Christ-Imitator.

While I’ve known about Jesus basically my entire life, it has only been in the recent past that I have truly attempted to get to know Him on a personal level. For the better part of my life I’ve relied on the experiences and commitments of other people to establish my walk with God. My parents are great people, and I come from a long history of spiritual patriarchs on both sides of the family, so it was easy to pick someone from whom to leech.

Sadly, despite my stellar heritage, I had no idea who I was or what God wanted me to be. In fact, I had no personal knowledge of God whatsoever. My entire teen life and all through my twenties I waged an inward war with myself over whether God really had a purpose for my life. I didn’t feel worthy of the calling that weighed so heavily on my soul, nor did I have any idea how to change who or what I was. I was completely and totally lost.

My life was empty and meaningless. I felt dirty. I was dirty. If God was looking for a vessel to use, He definitely would look past me. I was like the misshapen mass that is not unlike the fledgling attempt by a child in art class, required to fashion a bowl from some form of low-quality modeling clay. I was not something nor someone God could—or would even want to—use.

Or so I thought.

I know that I am not alone in these sentiments. There are many people in our congregations who feel completely worthless, yet they remain, sitting stoically in their seats at every gathering. They go through the motions devoid of passion, all the while their spirit is screaming for release.

Let me tell you what I’ve learned.

It helped me.

Maybe it can help you too.

It all begins with a jar.

In his letter to the Body at Corinth, Paul tells us about God shining the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ into our hearts. He describes the recipient of this illumination as jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.¹

This metaphor is interesting because of the contradiction between God’s glory being housed in something so temporal and sans value. What Paul was trying to get across to these 1^st Century believers—and subsequently us—is that while we may hold God’s glory within our fleshly and carnal jars, we can never allow the jar to become the focus. Our focus must always be on Who and What we are containing, never on the fleshly Tupperware® with the seal-in-the-freshness pop-top. When the jar—or container—becomes the most important thing, then we are putting the creation before the Creator. God has never tolerated this. Sometimes we place the jar before the Substance filling the jar, but we have to remember its not us that has the power to change our world; it is God in us.

Jesus’ cousin, John, said it best, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”² John understood the power of being clear, transparent, translucent—pick your poison. The point at which our identities as jars become more important than the One we are housing, our clearness lessens and we become the focal point. This ties directly in with Jesus’ teaching on spiritual works. Jesus said to His disciples, “…Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”³ It’s important to understand that Jesus is not referring to good religious or spiritual works; He is not talking about outreach, door knocking, etc. He is talking about His people doing good for the world in which we live. It’s not enough to have the Truth; we have to shine Jesus to our world through our actions.

1. 2 Corinthinans 4:6-8 (ESV), my personal Sword of choice. This passage of Scripture is dissected masterfully in Petrus J. Gräbe’s, The Power of God in Paul’s Letters .

2. This is a quotation of John the Baptist found in John 3:29-31, again quoted from the ESV.

3. Extracted from Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV).