Up on the Mountain

by Rod Hetherton

I want to build a house up on this mountain.
Way up high where the peaceful waters flow.
- Steven Curtis Chapman (The Mountain)

These lyrics convey a message about living and seeing God's grace and being far removed from the pain of the world. "Down below", there are many disappointments. Do you ever feel like people are always letting you down?

Disappointment

It is a reasonable feeling -- disappointment -- considering all that has happened with many of our political leaders, our religious leaders, and our business leaders in recent years. People all across America seem to have experienced the lies, betrayal, and secrecy left behind by various scandals. As Christians, what are we called to do when people we know and trust have disappointed us?

I think there are two things we should think about. First, are we setting unrealistic expectations that others cannot always live up to? And second, when people do let us down, are we reacting the way that Jesus wants us to?

Pedestals Are For Statues

Someone once told me not to place people high up on pedestals because sooner or later they will fall off. That has been some of the truest advice I have ever been given. In fact, I think that the person who told me that was one of the first to come crashing down.

I don't think I know an adult -- and I say "adult" because children are still learning and growing and their actions are not the kind of disappointments that I am referring to -- who hasn't disappointed me. Some do so mildly and are easy to forget. Others have done so harshly and forgetting is not so easy.

The point is that everyone makes mistakes. That is an inherent part of being human and exercising free will. When we stray from God's grace, we sin. And (surprise, surprise) sin hurts. It hurts others, God, and us. Sin is that absence of God's presence in our lives. It happens often when we stray off our spiritual paths.

Statues (and Maybe Ideals), but not People

After hearing that advice and letting all my heroes fall, I decided that people weren't going back up on the pedestals. Too often we attach a value to a person and are then crushed when that person stumbles. Sometimes we go as far as questioning the validity of a value just because we saw the value in our fallen hero. Usually it's not our heroes that are so great anyway; it is their ideas, values, and ways of living that are so impressive.

If one of your fallen heroes happened to have integrity as an endearing value, you don't have to beat yourself over the head trying to figure out where the integrity went. Values like integrity, honesty, kindness, courage, and respect are truths. These truths don't change. These are ideals worth pursuing in our daily lives.

What does change, though, is people. We are fickle beings. Sometimes we change for the better, sometimes for the worse. Sometimes we do great things in the world and then turn around and scorn those close to us. Sometimes we do great things to those close to us and then go and scorn the rest of the world. All in a minute's time, humans can hold the truths of honesty, integrity, kindness, and courage like a torch of greatness and then drop it into our own bucket of gasoline having it blow up in our face.

Forgiveness

So what do we do when someone close to us or someone we look up to has hurt or disappointed us with their words or deeds?

We forgive them.

That is what we are called to do. Christ walked this earth forgiving people. Some of his closest interactions came with women (not common for Jews of his time), tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and many more people of societal "weakness". Who would those people be today? Have you really gone out of your way to be kind to and forgive the "prostitutes and tax collectors" of today?

A better question for this debate is this: can you forgive your fallen hero? And can you forgive those people close to you? It is not always an easy task. Sometimes it involves letting those people close to us fade out of our lives. Nonetheless, Jesus calls us to love them and forgive them.

And next time, don't place them so high on the pedestal; you won't be shocked when they fall off. It can be a disappointing and harsh place "down below" doing God's work. But... God had the courage and love to send His Only Son to do it. He also expects the same from us, His other children.

Remember -- there will be a time when we get to go back up on that mountain. It will be a place of pure joy, love, and peace. When we are done toiling in God's work we will be welcomed home to heaven.

Life Applications:

How do you handle disappointment and betrayal in your life?
Who in your life have you put up too high on a pedestal? Have they fallen off yet?
One of the hardest things that Jesus calls us to do is forgive. Who in your life needs and deserves your forgiveness right now?

Copyright 2002-2008 by Rod Hetherton
All rights reserved.