DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

I love this picture. It captures, in a delightfully mocking manner, the exact spirit of the disease someone called, "delusions of grandeur." This image is actually a parody of a painting of Napoleon by the famous French Neoclassicist painter, David; a contemporary of Napoleon, and the formal painter of the French Revolution. (http://www.danielriceart.net/Napoleon_horse.jpg )

Look around the world, heck, for that matter, look around your family; you will see people eaten up with this disease. Most of them, however, are completely blind to it, and to its destructiveness. Make no mistake, only grief, pain, sorrow and remorse awaits the one who is consumed by this disease.

There is, in the gospels, a story about a "rich, young, ruler" who came to Jesus and asked how he might acquire "eternal life." Sounds like a nice question, but the answer unraveled him.

This is one of those stories told in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), so it must have been a pretty important story.

This is what Mark's gospel says, "As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God alone. Mark 10:17-18 NIV

Well, there is a lot to unpack in that question, along with the fact that Jesus' response caused the man to walk away a few moments later, unable to follow Christ. But it is interesting to note, that the scriptures records that Jesus felt compassion for the man. He did not condemn him. Ponder this whole account. It has many nuances. See what YOU come up with.

Why did this man decide he did not really want to follow Jesus after all?

This man's problem is every person's problem, we think wrongly about just about everything we think we know, especially wrongly about ourselves. Without a better vantage point, our "perspectives" will not only remain insufficient, but they will be quite incorrect as well. It is our perspectives that need to go, not Christ's. We are the ones in need of an attitude change. We are the one's whose paradigms need to be replaced. Our desire for success in the world's eyes might, in fact, make us an enemy of all that is holy.

I can just imagine what Jesus Christ would say to Donald Trump. Trump may be a wonderful man, I do not know, but I know he has great wealth and thinks very highly of himself. This is always a dangerous combination. I wonder what Jesus would say to him. Would he give "the Donald" special treatment because of his success in real estate and business? I am pretty sure the answer to that question would be "no."

Though God loves "the Donald" as much as any other of his creatures, and not one ounce less, I am guessing that Jesus is not really that impressed by Trump's "ability" to succeed in business. Trump's abilities don't impress God one bit. God is the one who gave him those abilities in the first place. Probably what God is more interested in is Trump's "availability" to lift the burden of poverty and suffering off the lives of those to whom God would send him. Probably what God is interested in is whether Donald is available to build God's kingdom rather than his own.

I am kind of thinking Jesus might say something like, "Well, Donald, you know I love you with an enormous love, and I gave you profound gifts. You have been very diligent in making them work well for you, and I am pleased that you are faithful with the gifts I gave you, but have you yet imagined that I might have given them to you in order that you might do great good in this world - that you might use my gifts in a way that would change the world for the better? What will you gain in the end, my friend, if you end up owning all the real estate in America and yet missed your truest purpose in life, or lost your own true self? What good will all your awesome business transactions serve, if you never become all I intended for you to become?" Of course, Jesus would say it much better than that. It would not only sound cooler, but, of course, it would be more succinct and penetrating.

Is "the Donald" doing what God wants? I don't know, but whether it is him or me, I do know that success is NOT the measure of a man, but faithfulness is. Only time will tell if "the Donald" and I have wasted our lives, or invested them wisely. One thing I know I do not want to hear from God is, "You're fired." Hearing that might give one a rather sick feeling in the pit of their stomach.

There is in everyone of us, whether Christ-Follower or not, a sense that our life matters, that we are significant, that we were created for something great and wonderful. We long to discover and to fulfill our purpose on this planet.

The Bible is VERY clear that we were meant for greatness, but it is equally clear about the fact that none of us will ever understand what that greatness is, what that purpose is, what that significance is without first having humbled ourselves beneath the might hand of God. Yes, YOU were meant to be great, and powerful, and influential, and all that grand stuff, but the closest any of us will get to it is miles away from what was intended without the right approach.

Human beings who try to achieve greatness on their own ruin their own lives and the lives of others. We botch everything we touch. There is no way we can become truly great on our own - not in the sense in which it was intended by God. It takes the Creator to fulfill the purposes of each individual; only he can make you all you were intended to be, yet most people will not go to him to become all he intended for them - though, thank God, many will.

Imagine what the "rich, young, ruler" could have been had he done what Jesus told him to do. As it is, he was great in his own eyes. He was wealthy in his own eys. He was good in his own eyes, but he missed his purpose in life by a million miles. Imagine it . . . he literally had the opportunity to be a genuine follower of the historical Jesus, and he passed it up . . . for material wealth. We can see how ignorant that was for him, but aren't we doing the exact same thing when we would rather hold onto our own values and our own ideas about ourselves than to let them go and serve Christ -- and those he loves?

Here is something to think about. Napoleon is a great example of this, as are countless other despicable characters in human history. Had Napoleon's tragedy not been so enormous; had thousands upon thousands died at his hands; had Europe and the world not been brutalized by the arrogant scourge that was Napoleon, he would have been a laughable character. He was one of those who was completely devoured by his own "delusion of grandeur."

C. S. Lewis, in his book, The Great Divorce, has a paragraph about Napoleon. You might want to dig it out and find that passage. It is quite interesting. In fact that book is quite fascinating, especially with regard how this particular disease affects certain characters in the book. I don't think he ever uses this term, but you will be able to locate those who meet its criteria.

Here is the cure for this disease. It comes from the Apostle James. He says, "But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God . . . Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." James 4:6-10 NIV

God really does have greatness planned for your life. You know in your heart that it is true. You feel its power inside your own soul, but you will never have it in the way it was meant to be, unless you humble yourself before the one who alone knows how to bring your life into true fruitfulness. Why not pause right now and ask him to give you more grace? He will do it. For it is only through his grace that true greatness will find you. Change your life and change the future history of this planet. Humble yourself now, and see what God might do through you.

PROPHET AS ARTIST

Photo/Dale Guldan

Here's an article worth pondering.

Prophet sells his art for $100 or $1,000 but sets no price on reading people's souls
Posted: April 4, 2002 - by Crocker Stephenson
SOURCE: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=32387

The first time I visited the prophet, it was maybe three years ago.

I had seen him, in the dead of winter, out on North Ave., not far from the Oriental Theatre. He was wearing several hats and several coats, as was his custom, and he was standing in front of a fence. Leaning against the fence were three or four of his paintings, the paint on them not yet dry. He was asking a hundred dollars apiece for them.

I knew that in a gallery, a painting by Prophet Blackmon could cost well over $1,000, and I knew that sometimes, when he was out of money, Prophet Blackmon would go into the galleries, pull his paintings off the wall, and sell them in the street for whatever anyone was willing to pay him.

I stopped at his place the next day. It's a tattered old tool factory on the north side. It's surrounded by a chain-link fence, the fence topped with barbed wire and always padlocked, even when he's inside.

"Prophet Blackmon!" I called.

A few minutes passed. Then the door opened, and Prophet Blackmon stepped out. His face was covered with soot, and black smoke billowed out from the door behind him.

Before he became a full-time street preacher and a part-time artist, Prophet Blackmon was a full-time street preacher and a part-time shoe repairer.

Between coughs, he told me he had run out of lumber for his three wood stoves, but God had provided him with plenty of extra shoes, and, cold as it was, shoes were what he was burning for heat.

"Shoes make a good fire," he told me, "but they make a lot of smoke before they get going."
Last year, someone opened a lumberyard beside Prophet Blackmon's place, so I haven't had to worry about how he's keeping warm. But I still stop in to see him from time to time. Usually, we walk a few blocks west to Jake's Deli on North Ave. A lot of local movers and shakers eat lunch at Jake's, including Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig.

There's a sign behind the counter with Bud Selig's picture on it. It says: "This is the Only Bud We Serve."

Prophet Blackmon is 81 years old. He shuts his eyes tightly when he talks, opening them only at the end of his sentences. He enjoys the corned beef sandwiches at Jake's; he can turn a single sandwich into a couple of meals.

At lunch the other day, Prophet Blackmon leaned out of our booth and toward a woman across the aisle.

"Somebody in your family is sick," he told her.

The woman came over to the table and emptied her heart. Four people in her family were ill. As she spoke, Prophet Blackmon smiled and comforted her. Before she left, he plucked four paper napkins from our table's dispenser, blessed each of them, and told the woman to tuck them in the beds of her sick loved ones.

He jotted his address down on a card and gave it to the woman.

"Here," he said. "If you feel led to send me something, send it here. Also, if you know anybody who would like a painting, tell them about me. I am an artist."