God is the Source.
I say that for my benefit just as much as yours. I just spent half an hour surfing the web looking for… uh… I have no idea.
I’m sure you’ve never done that. Never scrolled through Pinterest for far too long searching for something pinteresting. Never scanned Facebook longer than you should have for something, anything worth liking. Never revisited the Yahoo Movie Trailer page for the second time that day hoping some new clip has been posted, never popped in to visit this blog hoping for a clever new post, never humphed at the meagre selection on Netflix because there was nothing new to watch.
Never. And I’m sure you’ve never forgotten that…
God is the Source….
…of true joy. Of lasting peace. Of ultimate purpose. Of authentic beauty. Of worthy inspiration. Of faith, hope, and love. The source of wisdom, knowledge, value, colour, and warmth, and all around awesome.
God is.
True, he sends his life flowing through all kinds of channels—movies, community, mothers, media, meals, family, scripture, a website, music, friendship, nature, a lover’s touch, a time traveling Doctor, a flawed space cowboy, a passionate preacher, a Saturday morning cartoon, the aurora borealis. So it’s easy to see why, over time, we start looking to the channels for the life as though they are the source of what we’re after.
But they’re just channels.
God is the source.
Which is why he pulls the plug on the channels from time to time. Cuts the power. Drains the lake. Silences the song. Kills the joy. The pain forces us to pick up the channel, shake it, twist it, blow on it, try to take it apart and fix it. Until we follow the cord to the wall and realize:
It’s just a channel. Until we grasp that…
God is the source.
If it’s been awhile since we’ve dropped a mere channel and looked to the God who fills it, the act of refocusing can feel awkward. Unnatural, even. Like we’ve forgotten how to ride the bike or dance a two-step. But there it is. God is the Source, and there’s no way around him.
Maybe that deadness, that apathy, that “meh” you feel… is really a “channel fixation issue.” Maybe it’s time to put down a channel and turn to the Source.
Do you ever need to unplug from a channel to reconnect with Jesus? Do tell.