The deepest longing within your soul, and mine

A television evangelist was delivering one of his weekly sermons. His messages are usually very good so I took an interest in what he was going to say. He started his sermon by asking a question: “What is the greatest human need?”

Well, from a purely physical perspective, a listener might answer “air, warmth, food and fresh water, then safety – in that order.” Of course, the pastor was not thinking about physical need, he was referring to the greatest human need from an emotional or spiritual perspective.

He said, “From birth to death the greatest human need is confidence.” What?! Did I hear him right? The greatest human need is confidence? His text was taken from St. Paul’s opening words in his letter to the Philippians:

“I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (1.3-6)

With all due respect for the television evangelist, I must disagree. Saint Paul was not extolling the virtues of people having confidence. He was expressing his confidence in the steadfast faith and partnership of Philippian Christians, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Clearly Saint Paul had a special affection for them and this is quite evident in the next two verses (7-8):

“It is right that I should think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, you who are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

The greatest human need is not confidence. The greatest human need is love. Every human being needs love from the moment they are conceived to the moment of their death.

Don’t get me wrong, having confidence is important. People need confidence to succeed in life. They need to have confidence to accomplish great things. Confidence is very important but it is not the greatest human need. Human beings need love -- they need to love and be loved.

Saint Paul wrote most eloquently about the primacy of love (1 Corinthians 13). In this immortal Chapter about love, the Apostle did not use the Greek word Eros meaning sexual desire or carnal love. He did not use the Greek word Philos which deals with the affection of friendship. Saint Paul used the less common word Agap. Agape love is the deliberate choice to love unconditionally rather than any worthiness of the one who is loved. Agape love is selfless, spiritual, unconditional love of the nature revealed in Jesus Christ.

Agape love described in the 13th Chapter of 1 Corinthians involves outward action and inner attitude. True agape love is patient and slow to anger (v. 4.); it shows kindness to everyone it encounters (v. 4); it is unselfish, truthful and honest (verses 5-6); it encourages and is hopeful (v.7). I believe that the human soul desires to receive agape love and yearns to give it.

Just prior to his crucifixion, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13.34)

Christ did not come to teach us to exude confidence. He did not come with a message about the power of positive thinking. His love for us and our love for Him may produce such qualities but that was not the reason for the Incarnation. Christ came because of love for a broken and lost humanity, cut off by sin from their Creator: God. Divine love was behind the Incarnation. God is love and He created humanity for love.

Bishop Fulton Sheen said,

“[T]he human heart is isolated and in agony: it has more love to give than earth-bound object can receive -- it clamors to be loved more lastingly and comprehendingly than by any human lover.” (Lift Up Your Heart)

There is an unsatisfied longing in every human soul to be immersed in a warm and eternal love of God. Somewhere in the heart of every human being is a desire to love the Divine and be loved divinely.

I am convinced that if you take the time to shut out distractions, worries, and the demands of daily life and quiet your heart, you will find that what remains is a longing for God’s love, pure and simple.

It is at such a time that confidence becomes important. We can rest confident in the knowledge that we are loved perfectly by a perfect God. The deepest longing within your soul, and mine, can be satisfied through faith in Jesus Christ. It is completed by reflecting Christ’s love to the people we encounter.

Live and die confident in Christ’s love.

MP

The little round cameras at Walmart

This blog is not about a Christian topic. It's about something that irks me. Please forgive the digression.

I noticed something about Walmart. Most of their older stores and all their newer stores, that I have visited, have cameras above each check out counter. Little black, round "security" cameras are situated high above the PIN-pad machines where throngs of customers punch in their security codes when purchasing merchandise with their Interac cards. The cameras are sometimes directly over the PIN-pad and sometimes slightly off to one side.

Look up!

When I first noticed these potentially invasive little cameras, I took exception to where they were/are situated (above PIN-pads) and asked to talk to the store management. The manager was summoned. "Is that a camera?" I asked, pointing up to the little sphere above. He confirmed that's what it was/is. I expressed my concern about a camera that could record my Personal Identification Number (P.I.N.), and potentially compromise my security.

The manager told me in polite but no uncertain terms that Walmart reserves the right to gather this Personal Identification Number information from their customers. Really?! And do they also think they can gather P.I.N. numbers without notifying customers? That is exactly what the silent little cameras perched high above the check-outs most certainly is capable of doing if a customer is not meticulous to hid their transaction.

A security-conscious customer may take the time and check to see nobody around him is watching him punch in his PIN -- but does he look up?

Snarky customer,
snarky manager

The Walmart manager did not appreciate my increasingly animated desire to protect my personal information. He grew indignant and rose to his full height of well over 5'3" then reminded me that if I didn't like the way Walmart conducted its business, I was welcome to shop elsewhere.

Their "security" camera may indeed make things secure for Walmart. But if the huffy little manager is correct with his statement that Walmart reserves a right to know my P.I.N. number, then that makes me insecure!

Why does this massive corporation think they have a right to sensitive and personal information of mine? What gives them this right and what will they do with it? Who within the corporation has access to my PIN number once secured by an intrusive little camera at a tardy moment when I forgot to hover over the pad like a hawk, with my hand guarding my transaction details?

Next time you are standing in line at Walmart, waiting to pay for merchandise, look up above the PIN-pad. Is there a little black, round camera above it? If so, protect your information not only from the eyes of people around you, but also the eye of the corporation directly above you. Tell the customer behind you to do the same.

Walmart has a right to be paid for merchandise but they do not have a right to know your P.I.N.

Even nobodies like me are entitled to privacy and no intrusions into our personal security.

MP

Responding to threatening communication about Robert Latimer

Read my latest post in response to threatening communication to stop writing about Robert Latimer in a negative light -- "Still more about Robert Latimer" at http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com

Mark Pickup

Internation Day of the Unborn Child, March 25th 2008

To Read my blog entry "International Day of the Unborn Child, March 25th 2008", go to http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/

MP

What gives life value?

Read my latest post "What gives life value?" Go to http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/

MP

"While campaigning for his wife’s Democratic nomination, Bill Clinton, was confronted by pro-Life demonstrators. One protester held up a sign that said "Abortion is murder." Bill Clinton lost his cool: "I gave you the answer. We disagree with you. ..."

To read the rest of this blog "Bill Clinton's little outburst", go to http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/

MP

I used to be an artist

Many years ago, I was forced by multiple sclerosis into medical retirement from a career with the Canadian civil service, at the age of thirty-seven . It was a horrible shock to be put out to pasture at such a young age.

With an abundance of time on my hands, I returned to an old hobby: portrait drawing. I threw myself wholeheartedly into studies of the human face. Human faces always intrigued me.

Studies of the human face

I have always marveled that no two faces on the planet are the same (except, of course, identical twins). In my whole life experience, I’ve never met two people with the same face; each is as unique as the person standing behind the face!

Farmer’s markets, summer festivals, beaches and parks were all places I went to watch people going about their lives. It is in the routines of daily life that humanity is revealed best. I watched their faces react to a multitude of events and circumstances: work and play, in happiness and sadness, at their best and at their worst, in the process of living and in the process of dying. Each face revealed something about the human condition. I began to draw.

The simple, lowly pencil was my medium of choice to capture images of faces expressing the emotions of life. It was my goal to make each face I drew no particular face yet every face. I wanted viewers who looked at my sketches and smile with recollections of ‘Jim’ or ‘Billy’ or ‘great aunt Sally’ or the little boy down the street back home. My gauge for success was to know the drawings evoked memories of people.

Limited edition prints

My wife decided to select five images and produced limited edition prints of my sketches, under the general series title Made in the Image.[1] The series had two hundred and fifty prints of each image. The sketches had various subjects, including:

· Kool-Aid Kid – depicted a shirtless little boy of about four or five on a sweltering, muggy summer day. There was not even a hint of a breeze. A baseball cap kept the mid-day sun off the little boy’s head but he was still hot and flushed. He needed a drink of Kool-Aid with ice-cubes and some cold watermelon. He wanted his mom to put on the sprinkler so he could run through it and cool down. He would not come in out of the sun until nap time. All his mom could do was slather another coat of sun-screen on her Kool-Aid kid and fret about sunstroke.

Having Fun – was a head and shoulders sketch of a little girl of about nine or ten engaged in the important business of childhood play. I tried to show the joie de vivre of childhood in her face. Perhaps the little girl I drew was singing a skipping song, or playing hopscotch. Perhaps she was playing Red Rover or hide-and-seek and calling out, “Here I come, ready or not!” The sketch did not identify her game, only that her face showed she was Having Fun.

· Dance of a China Doll – depicted a small child of a peasant family somewhere on mainland China. She was performing a traditional dance. She was in the final pose of her performance; the sound of music was dying away and her family proudly applauded the dance of their little China doll. The pride in her face told us the dance was success.

Laughter is Universal – illustrated the face of an old Chinese man laughing about something. Perhaps he was in the market place visiting with other old men. Quite possibly he was the grandfather standing on the sidelines with the crowd watching the Dance of a China Doll.

· We lost, … but they cheated was an illustration of a softball player on the losing side of a game. Ball diamonds are dotted everywhere where softball is played from May to September; its players take it seriously but every game has a winner and loser. The young athlete in this sketch returned home dejected with a feeble excuse, “We lost, … but they cheated.” Perhaps next game would be her victory.

Success!

To our surprise and delight the limited edition sketch series was immensely successful, with sales coming from across Canada and as far away as America, England, Sweden, Australia and Hong Kong! They showed up on the walls of corporate boardrooms and Canada’s Parliamentary offices.

The art series was featured on a national Canadian Christian TV talk-show, as well as the subject of a national television documentary that aired across Canada.

Disease stripped ability

Multiple sclerosis finally and permanently stripped the remaining fine motor skills in my right arm (I was right-handed). It was one of many sorrows over physical losses. I closed that chapter of my life, packed up my art equipment and gave it all to my son, Dean. His artistic talents dwarf anything I ever achieved.

Although I am not longer an artist, my love of art remains, whether it be through paint or pencil, poetry or prose, music or meditation on the psalms and holy Scripture, artistic beauty is a refuge from this horrible disease.

John Keats said,

“The excellency of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeables evaporate, from their being in close relationship with beauty and truth.”

Upon this point I must concur.

Mark Pickup

(Some limited edition sketches are still available for purchase. To order, contact my wife, LaRee at LaRee@shaw.ca for prices and availability framed and unframed.)

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[1] See Genesis 1:26-27.