John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Me (and Jesus)

When I was a boy, John Wayne was the epitome of rugged masculinity, able to fight off the Apaches with one hand and embrace
the girl with the other. Others have come along since, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made a ton of movies delivering death and destruction to the bad guys while flexing his rippling muscles. Those movies all portrayed an American neurosis that if we try hard enough we can do anything, so we have to try harder. And harder. And harder. That bleeds over into our Christian lives, where we think it's our task to make ourselves righteous through our effort. So why doesn't it work?


Elmer Colyer, a pastor and teacher who has helped me understand who I am in Christ, explained the difference between a life of self-centered effort and a Christ-dependent life of freedom and joy, in an interview on the GCI website (I've emphasized a few phrases for today's purposes): 
"In John 15 Jesus says, “If you love me you will obey my commands.” They forget the first part of John 15, which is what? Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a branch remains in me it will bear much fruit,” and then comes that verse that we just really don’t believe in our heart of hearts, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” You mean there isn’t something we can contribute on our own? Jesus seems to say there isn’t, in that text.

"The word “remain” is meno. If you read John’s Gospel and look at everything it has to say about meno, it’s the same word that Jesus uses in terms of the relationship between Jesus and the Father, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.” It’s meno. Jesus says that’s the same thing we’re to do with him, we’re to meno. He’s to remain in us and we’re to remain in him. Unless we do that, we can do nothing.

"That’s the absolute good news of the gospel, because that means there isn’t anything in the Christian life that we ever do, have to do, ever need to do, on our own apart from what Christ has already done for us in his vicarious life, death, and resurrection. He has already done it all — not in a way that cancels our humanity, but a way that frees us. He echoes his faith, his repentance, his obedience, in us. It’s when we stop worrying about the quality of our faith, our repentance, and our obedience, guess what? It becomes easier to be able to do those things. Even then, we don’t do it perfectly, and we always have to depend upon Christ our High Priest, who is at the right hand of God."

Thanks once more, Elmer. You've reminded me to work at surrendering my neuroses to Jesus, and trust that his own perfect performance stands in for my broken efforts; and that my real success in life will be in letting him do what he wants done in me, ever moment. What a gift!