Beating Around... Rebellion

When I was seventeen years old, I snuck out of my house for the very first time. My parents are practical and protective so every night (to this day) when we come in from a night out, we have to turn on the alarm. So even if I am rolling into that house at 3 or 4 (a rarity), I am supposed to hit the alarm. The sounds tell my ever loving parents that their precious daughter is home safe and sound out of the dangers of the criminal playground we call Houma, Louisiana. 

This night however, I DID NOT turn on the alarm because I had a plan. Oh yes, in my room for 11pm? No thanks mom and dad, I know better than you and I am only seventeen. 

After my parents were sound asleep, my plan turned into action. I grabbed my 1^st generation I pod and a blanket from the T.V. room. I crept downstairs as if cloaked with the cloak of invisibility and stealthily made my way into the black abyss of … wait for it……………

MY BACKYARD. Yep, I snuck out of my house to go stargazing. After about 10 minutes of looking at cloudy constellations, the mosquitoes attacked and I snuck back inside afraid of having to explain my silliness. MISSION. ACCOMPLISHED!

I have been a rebel without a cause for no reason ever since I can remember and the above story is proof. Can anyone relate? Each of us has a desire to prove that we can when someone says we can’t or that we will when someone says we won’t. If there is a protocol to follow, many of us are convinced that we can get the same result doing it OUR WAY instead of the way explained to us. We have a desire to stand out, to be different, to be more and better than our peers. Am I right or am I right?

I have recently been thinking about this concept as I watch my life and the lives of my peers unfold through a Tampa looking glass. My generation, as rebellious as any other, has the power to start a new kind of rebellion, the right kind if you ask me. Now I know you may be wondering where I am going, but you also know if you have read any of my previous posts that we will end at Christianity. So walk with me.

On a long drive, when I think about my deepest desire, I come down the a few things. My heart desires to be loved with a love that does not go away. My heart desires to give a love that does not go away. My heart desires to share my life with someone else. My heart desires to leave a mark on this world, to be important, to be secure, to be free and to be joyful (joy is different than happy; happiness is fleeting). And since I am no different than you my lovely reader, I am willing to bet that you feel the same.

So why do we rebel? We rebel because in all of our infinite wisdom as young people, we think that we can accomplish these things through our own prerogative. We believe that we are more forward thinking than our parents and that “OUR WAY” to love, legacy, importance, happiness, freedom and joy will work for us in a way that it didn’t for previous generations(because let’s face it, many adults are pretty miserable). So basically we want to take an alternative path to the same result. But normally in the end, the path that we have chosen (partying, materialism, free sex, fun…) isn’t forward thinking at all. Our parents chose that path too (the 60’s anyone?) in their infinite wisdom as young people and many of them feel the opposite of loved, impactful, important, HAPPY, FREE, and JOYFUL.

So my question is, if generations before us “rebelled” with the free love movement and feminism and these many other (many worthwhile) causes that have made us more free to make terrible decisions than ever before AND this is exactly what culture is telling us to do. Are we actually rebels? I think not. I would call us a bunch of conformists who finally realize in our 30’s that the rebelling did not lead us to anything that our hearts desired so we are left rest in our ways, become cynical and insecure or we turn to the rules and values of our parents to achieve a more stable sense of self.

So if we have a rebellious spirit (which we do) and we desire the above mentioned, how can we reconcile the two? By accepting that maybe the traditional values of our parents and much more importantly a relationship JESUS might be the ultimate rebellion. Choosing to follow a faith that is so counter cultural that the government doesn’t even know what to do with it right now may be the most daring and rebellious choice that we could possible make.  I mean think about it, our leader was the most rebellious being on the planet in everything that he did, thought and preached. He is the absolute definition of counter culture so why would we settle for the “Hot Topic” brand of rebellion (a.k.a. conformity and emptiness) when we can feast our eyes upon the real thing in Jesus Christ. The man who preached everything opposite of culture and those who followed him not only received everything that their hearts desired but left legacies that over two thousand years are still unmatched by modern day heroes.

Psalm 37:4 says ,“Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”

To back him up… Our Boy C.S. Lewis said , “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Our heavenly Father is offering us a cause to fight for. He wants us to rebel against a world that offers what does not satisfy. And in the process of our battles, he offers us the fulfillment of our deepest desires. We are already rebellious, but most of us have nothing lasting for which we should fight. Christ offers us a life of beautiful rebellion for an infinite cause that is literally beyond this world.  And if we should dare to join Him, all of a sudden we don’t have time to revel in the half hearted joy that is offered to us by our culture… there is too much work to be done.