Bryce is a prisoner in his own home. His really nice home with the pool, three-car garage, RV parking, and more bathrooms than family members. His “friends” are (too) curious about his life and trappings, like something of a bad sequel to The Great Gatsby. And despite his material success, Bryce remains restless, empty, and hungry for that One Honest Touch.
Tony is a prisoner in his own accomplishments. A hyper-achiever, he lives in a world of “What mountain have you climbed lately?” Last year’s exploits are old news to a bored world, many of whom live vicariously through Tony’s courage and imagination. Inwardly terrified to admit he’s just as bored and scared as they are, Tony longs for that One Honest Touch.
Madison is a prisoner in her own skin. Always a head turner looks-wise, for as long as she can remember, Maddie’s life has been revolving door of one vain relationship after another. Superficial. Super-physical. Super-lonely. Her striking beauty has always ensured her all the attention she could ever ask for. But it never has given her what her heart cries out for most – that One Honest Touch.
Deep Connection
All of us were created with a capacity, and need for, deep connection. A Touch. And our spirits never rest until we have it.
The Touch multiplies the value of all our richest blessings because it makes them shared.
The Touch reframes circumstances, dignifies suffering, and brings grace to our failures because it fills the emptiness that comes from spiritual poverty.
The Touch frees us to give and receive money and possessions, all the while holding them loosely because we are profoundly content.
The Touch graces us with the ability to offer respect, friendship, and understanding fearlessly in this life because we aren’t desperately chained to others’ approval.
The Touch deepens our perspective in helping us recognize where the real treasures lie because we measure them in terms of fulfilled purpose.
The Touch helps us bear and believe and hope and endure all-things-relational because it gives us what we need the most – unconditional love.
Cheap Substitutes
We inherited a broken world of easy substitutions for the real thing. Like fool’s gold, these imposters glitter more but in the end satisfy less. Just ask Bryson or Tony or Maddie. They and so many others can testify of the intoxicating, blinding, binding power of pleasure, prosperity, and pride.
Ever since Adam and Eve experienced the brunt force of rejection, we have equated love with feeling good. Here’s how our fallen logic sorts it out: I need love. I can’t get the love I need. That hurts. If I can somehow feel better, that’s the same as being loved. And the crazy thing is that actually works for just a little while. Until the pain comes back… and it will come back.
Same goes for materialism. Nobody gets up in the morning and wishes for more unpaid bills, unmet needs, or fear of poverty. Who hasn’t experienced the passing thrill of that new possession, or the envy that arises when somebody else gets that new car, house, or big payday? The problem is that money, like the other substitutes, always over-promises and under-delivers. Not because it doesn’t work, but because it doesn’t work permanently. In Touch language, you have to keeping getting “touched” again and again by money. It takes more and more to satisfy.
Then there’s pride – the most invisible and deceptive of the substitutes. After all, doesn’t it make sense to want to feel good about yourself? Shouldn’t you want to look good, feel praiseworthy, be confident and in control? Sure. But no amount of emotional grandstanding or mental theatrics can hide the fact that the “face that’s in the mirror when you don’t like what you see” keeps coming back again and again.
True Fulfillment
Ready for some good news? You can find that treasure you’ve been longing for.
Deep connection.
Shared blessings.
Profound contentment.
Fulfilled purpose.
Unconditional love.
It’s all there in that One Honest Touch. The one that doesn’t ask you to pretend, but does ask you to repent. It doesn’t ask you try, but it does ask you to trust. It doesn’t ask you to be somebody different, but it does ask you to surrender the somebody you already are. It doesn’t demand that you change to make yourself loveable, but it does demand that you be transformed by a love that redeems.
Could you accept the fact that no amount of gold, pleasure or ego can fix the brokenness in your spirit?
Could you acknowledge the fact that you are powerless to solve the deepest needs or longings of your heart?
Could you accept the reality that no human or human invention could ever possibly fill up the emptiness that haunts you or heal the rejection that hurts you?
Can you believe that what you, others, and a universe of accomplishment can’t do, God can – and that the work has already been done?
Can you trust that the resurrection and cross of Jesus Christ has forever settled the fact that you are held by a love that will never die, never surrender, never stumble or fall?
Can you receive that gift today? Or, having once received it, can you again celebrate today that you are your Beloved’s – the apple of His eye – and He is yours?
The greatest news I could offer you is that you’ve already been touched. Once. Honestly. For all time and eternity. The only question now is, will you live like it?