Here is the big idea, the Life Rhythm we focus on during Life Season:
God is a Life-giver, the Source of everything we see--our bodies, our planet, our universe.
God loves life, and he loves to give it. To him the universe is like a flower garden or a playground. He is creative, and he is good to the core. He loves to promote life in all its forms, and he sets himself up against anything that demeans, reduces, or destroys what he has created.
The Bible is more about life in this world than it is about religion and the afterlife. The biblical story is much more about how to live in this world than how to prepare for the next one.
Here is the other half of the big idea of Life Season:
The forces of death are running loose in our world, and people don't agree on who to blame or what to do about it.
The world as we see it today is obviously messed up. The forces of death are doing their worst, and they seem to be getting away with a lot of it. Why doesn't God do something about it?
Actually he is, but it's not the quick fix that people are looking for from him, so lots of people conclude he isn't doing anything at all. Or perhaps they think all he is doing is a little damage limitation by sending a few religious leaders like Jesus to urge people to be better and kinder.
They do not see that God is furious about every attack of Death against Life and he has master-minded a global campaign to deal with it. The Bible tells us how he is executing his plan through Jesus and the Holy Spirit right up to today.
Why hasn't God's campaign succeeded yet? Because timing is everything. On God's calendar we are living in a global grace period. God's campaign strategy for the present time is to hand out second chances, and third, and fourth, and fifth. It looks like the forces of evil are getting away with everything, but when the grace period ends, they will be wiped out and everything else will be connected, healed, and blessed.
In the meantime our job is to listen to God and carry out the assignments he gives us to promote authentic life. We already have one foot in that glorious future life, and we get to show the world some of what it will look like.
Of course, that puts a target on our backs because the forces of Death don't like us saying their days are numbered. They promote their own views of who to blame and how to make a better world.
Bottom line of the big idea:
We "see ourselves in Christ" as life-bringers, participating in God's campaign to reconnect the world with his Life, to heal all wounds, and to bless everyone we can, even if we have to give our lives in the process.
In SYNC with Jesus, we are connected to life itself. "The one who has the Son [Jesus], has life. The one who does not have the Son does not have life." (1 John 5.12)
When you SYNC (See Yourself iN Christ) as a life-bringer, you realize you are participating in the life-giving, life-healing, life-restoring campaign of Christ. That is your cause. You are caught up in it, energized by it, and delighted every time you have even a small success. Say goodbye to any feelings of insignificance.
Our role as life-bringers, carrying the water of life
Jesus Christ is the Spearhead or Pioneer of the current phase of God's campaign to bring life to the world and to make that life permanent and good. If we see ourselves in Christ, we see that we are receiving his life, and we will never run out of it. He gives us surplus life, plenty to share with others who need it. Then we become life-bringers in his connect-heal-bless campaign.
Of course, God gives some life to everybody directly too. He makes his rain fall on the good people and the bad ones alike. (Matthew 5.45) But life is hard sometimes. We all get banged up to some degree as we go along. And sometimes we chase something for a long time, assuming it will make us feel really alive, but when we finally get it, it lets us down.
We feel worn out, half dead. We want somebody to listen to us, to care about our story, to stick with us, and stick up for us.
If we see ourselves in Christ, we are able to bring life to half dead people because we have time to listen to them, and Christ helps us care about what they tell us. We are not as locked into our own careers, our own families, our own pleasures and pastimes as we used to be. They are no longer the things that make us feel really alive.
What we really enjoy at a deep level and find significance in is participation in Christ's campaign, bringing life to others. We look for chances to do that, and we usually don't have to look very far.
Of course, not everybody wants help, and we don't have to force the water of Life down anyone's throat. Our job is only to offer it as appealingly as we can. Part of the appeal is that we are drinking the same water we are offering. We keep refilling our lives with Christ, the water that quenches our thirst for life.
Some people see God as a scorekeeper, tracking our good deeds and our evil deeds. He is way more helpful than that! He has already given life to everybody who is alive, healed many who were scarred and broken by life, and sent out millions of messengers like us. Why? To make sure everyone has a chance to become truly alive in Christ and truly blessed by people who are in SYNC with Christ.
When you SYNC (See Yourself iN Christ), you also see Christ inside you. He is your life, and you don't have to chase life any more. You can relax, enjoy it, and share it because you already have it inside as a gift.
The big idea vs the Big Lie
If we get the big idea of Life Season, it protects us from the Big Lie--
"Life is about self-fulfillment, personal achievement, self-indulgence, and/or acquisition."
This lie has some truth to it. Life on earth is supposed to be good and joyful. We each should have some personal significance in the grand scheme of things, a destiny that is the full blossoming of all the gifts we were born with.
But the lie generates all kinds of internal conflicts and insecurities. It forces us to chase our dreams as hard as we can, and we discover that is a lot harder than it sounds because some of our dreams conflict with others. We are out of sync with ourselves.
If the universe is an unexplained mix of matter and energy bouncing around according to its nature, then we have to sort out our internal conflicting desires as best we can, and then negotiate with other people and groups to try to fulfill our desires.
In that view of life, there is nothing outside us that can unify life for us. Science is no help at all. It is a tool that can be used for a purpose but has no built-in purpose. We each have to choose our own purpose and then create our own significance by achievements with our purpose in mind.
In contrast, according to the big idea of Life Season, we do not have to carry that burden of choosing our purpose. Instead we get our purpose and significance handed to us as a gift! This is a created world, and we have been pre-wired to live a fulfilled life as we participate in the Creator's campaign to connect, heal, and bless it.
To SYNC with Christ and his ancient, futuristic, love-filled connect-heal-bless campaign is the greatest privilege of life. The person who understands that concept understands what authentic life is--life that is true to our created purpose, life that brings life to others, life that connects, heals, and blesses.
FAQs about the "big idea"
1. So who is to blame for the death that is loose in the world, and what can be done to fix the problem?
According to the story of the world as the Bible tells it, blame goes to the first man, the first woman, and the first liar. The lie was that God was cheating the humans. The liar said that God had only told the man and woman that the fruit of a certain tree was poisonous because he knew the fruit was magical and he did not want them to get any of his magic power.
They fell for the lie, ate the fruit, and sure enough--it was poisonous. When they ate it, they turned death loose in the world and they lost access to the idyllic garden that had been their home.
In the following generations life deteriorated and the forces of evil and death showed up in all kinds of ways. In Genesis 4-11 we see jealousy, murder, corruption, violence, drunkenness, family dysfunction, arrogance, and racism spread like cancers. The world started looking more like the world we know.
That's when God launched his campaign to reconnect, heal, and bless the world, starting with an old childless couple in the Middle East, Abraham and Sarah.
For the rest of the campaign story, read any of SYNC's seven ways of telling the story. Just click the "Story of the World" tab and find your place in God's ancient and modern campaign.
2. This view of life sounds like we are supposed to "know our place" in life and be satisfied with whatever role the Creator assigns us. Isn't that slavery?
We don't resign ourselves to our assignment, we throw ourselves into the assignment, honored to be given it and eager to please the One in charge. We are like young boys who are thrilled when they get to run an errand that only their older brothers used to do. They are being treated as older boys now, and they feel more like kings than slaves.
Accepting our role in life would be a really horrible thought if the Creator was not on our side, deeply invested in our welfare. Look at our predicament as humans on earth. We find ourselves in a land that is entirely owned already and not for sale. We can never acquire a single square foot of property here. We have to come to terms with the Owner. If he decides to play rough with us, there is nothing we can do.
Under these circumstances, we are terrifically relieved to hear he has set the whole thing up as a win-win situation. The more we serve him, the more fulfilled we get. Realizing life is a gift rather than a right, we become thankful that the Creator did not do what he could have done--arbitrarily assign us wherever he chose, even if it was a role that felt to us like drudgery and slavery.
3. When we say we are "bringing life" to the world, does that mean we are telling the gospel about Jesus and eternal life or just doing good things that make life a little better for people now on earth?
It means we are bringing life any way we can at any level we can. We bring life at all levels because that is who we are--life-bringers.
During Life Season, SYNC puts more emphasis on the down-to-earth blessings than the eternal or religious ones. What we are trying to say is that the more fully we enjoy ordinary life, the more grateful we are for what God has created, the more generous we are in everyday relationships, the more authentic we are.
Authentic people are admirable, winsome people. But to be authentic, we have to keep on sharing the down-to-earth blessings whether people ever ask about Jesus and eternal life or not. The down-to-earth blessings are not physical bait on a spiritual hook. Both the physical and the spiritual blessings are the overflow of the life Christ is putting into us. As long as he keeps pumping, we keep overflowing.