A Significant Emotional Event

Significant emotional events are the knots in the tapestry of each person life. Happiness or sadness, surprise or horror, fellowship or estrangement are just some of the trademarks we categorize these life changing events. Rarely do we realize that our lives are directed daily by the acceptance or aversion to these past events in even the simplest of choices we make.

Let me give you an example: Liver and onions. What is your first impression? Most will react in a very negative manner. I’d like to ask you to recognize when that first expression appeared in your life. What were the events of that moment; who was present; how did they react to your expression; where did this event occur? All of these questions help us to define a significant emotional event. However, they also help us to understand how you’ve distanced yourself from not only the dish, but in some instances, the people and places where that event occurred in your past.

Your reaction to any other objects present in the moment is directly proportional to the intensity of your emotions in these matters. As an example you could have had something happen in your life and there was a green tablecloth or a yellow pitcher that became a focal point during the event. Today you hate one of those colors or you love them for reasons that you really don’t know why. It’s simply because they were incidental props attached to a major memory.

What begins to happen in our lives after one of these type of occurrences is that we relive them, embellishing them and subtracting from them those items that, well honestly, just aren’t important any more. This replay of the past is what makes them significant. I once heard someone say that history doesn’t exist except as memories in a mind that is trying to come to terms with who they truly are. When you ponder on this statement properly, most people live there lives present-past. Past events define and shape their present beliefs and values.

Having laid all of this ground work, you’re probably asking, “What does this have to do with grace?”
Of late, I’ve noticed that a large number of people talking or writing on the subject of grace do so in the present-past format. Now I realize that this is a requirement in trying to describe how it affects each of our lives. However, I believe that we’re missing several vital elements in the discussion for a simple reason: We’re stuck at Jesus.

This past-present construct which is being followed seems to have stunted the development of our life by fixing our gaze on the “cross” rather than on the throne. I know that some of you will take me to task for that claim, but Paul is very clear on his perspective of things: he is present-future. He clearly recognizes that all his past died on that cross and is of no use to him, so he is pressing toward the high calling of Christ having set his eyes on things above. Now this is Paul speaking in a time when he could have witnessed the actual crucifixion. Here we are 2,000 years later, closer to the throne room realities and we’re still grappling with kindergarten theology.

Consider that Paul tells us in 2 Timothy that we were called to God’s purpose and grace before the foundations of the world. This is clearly before Jesus was on the world, yet no one likes to think of the potential of a grace life before Jesus. The significant emotional event of Jesus’ crucifixion has eliminated all prior references to a graceful life, despite the proclamation of him being the lamb slain before the world began.
Here is truth. You don’t have to believe it to be truth, simply because it is. Your web of significant emotional events were all addressed 2,000 years ago on a cross, long before you were born. But to trump even that truth is the one that you were chosen before the world began. Herein lies the significance of grace – your involvement in it does not diminish or enhance its power to influence all of humanity. It has been given to eliminate your history so that you may live His story to its fullest, a story which is on going, not stifled by the thoughts of “Woulda, coulda, shoulda.”

You can dwell on past hurts if you desire but that merely blocks the desire of the Father’s love from overwhelming you. You can reflect on the injuries of past relationships which will keep the warmth of the Spirit from emanating from within you. You can constantly draw back from a loss of friendship which will only keep you from hearing your greatest friend cheering you forward.

Today, right this moment, Jesus, a man, sits on a throne in heaven, mediating on your behalf a relationship through the Spirit based upon the gift of His life for the love of the Father. They, the trinity, are all in agreement right now just as they were 2,000 years ago. They know of no past in your life which hasn’t included them. That is how significant you are, have been, and forever will be to them. You are the value to the significance of grace!