Heart of Relationships: Faithfulness

Transcript of a Sage Hill Live Fully Podcast conversation with Dr. Chip Dodd. Lightly edited for readability; speaker labels omitted.

This podcast is brought to you by Sage Hill, a social impact organization. Our mission is to help people be who they're made to be so that they can do what they're made to do. Find more resources to live fully, love deeply, and lead well at sagehillresources.com. Life is tragic, and God is faithful. The truth in the Hebrew world, the truth meant God is faithful. Truth meant God is faithful. That's what the truth was in the Hebrew world. In the Greek world, truth was a speculative concept. In the Greek world, they're looking for the truth. They're looking for the truth. When you're Hebrew, you're born with it. There it is right there. Moses said, Deuteronomy 30, it's in your mouth and it's in your heart already there. You don't get to build a boat and go across the sea. You know, build a ladder and climb up to heaven to go find it. It said you're born with it. Speak it. Speak it. So God is faithful in the Hebrew world, but then the Hebrews looked around and said, if you're faithful, would you explain this bloodletting thing going over here? Okay. Life's tragic. Life's tough. Life sucks. Life's hard. Life's difficult. And then, the only way they could keep God faithful was to ignore the tragic. Something else other than that. That's how can we keep up with all these reasons God does things. Well the reason God did that is because Well the reason God did this is we're always trying to let God off the hook so we won't have to struggle with him. The Hebrews were masters of being Israel. The word Israel, Jacob's blessing, was to struggle with God. The the name Israel means to struggle with God. Jacob's blessing was a name change from deceiver, a man who uses his face to hide his heart. Deceiver, a man, A. W. Tozer, who uses his face to hide his heart has become a man who can show his heart and struggle with God and live. The mastery that God has given us the capacity to have is the ability to struggle with him. That's what joins life's tragedy and God's faithfulness. You will find him faithful if you struggle with the reality of what you've got to live with, guaranteed. But to do so, you've got to surrender your face. You've got to give up your face. You've got to give up your heart. Now what's astounding is this, that every human being is 99.9% identical. DNA of the human being is identical to all other human beings, which means I am you. You are me. We're 99.9 most scientists say even more than that, but I want to, like, give a little space. We're 99.9% identical. Do you get that? Means I am you. That means the DNA of the emotional makeup of the human being is identical to all other human beings. And what's astounding is across all cultures, across every culture, the studies have shown that the facial expressions for the internal experience of a human event is the same across all cultures. In other words, the facial expressions for sadness, hurt, loneliness, fear are identical across all cultures. Feelings aren't cultural. Feelings are creation, working. Now what's amazing is that's the DNA of the human being. I'm made to experience something going inside of me. My face show that it's happening. And amazing. In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah walks into the king's presence, and the king looks at the cup bearer and says, Nehemiah, you must be sad. Only your face looking like that could mean sadness. A king from another culture, a servant from a culture, were bonded together as two human beings because he recognized in his face the possibility of something may happening in his chest. Okay? Now, Okay? Now, do you realize that human beings are the only creatures that have DNA, which everything living does, that human beings are the only creatures that carry DNA that are capable of attempting to refuse how they're made. We can attempt to go away or run away from how we're made. And human beings are made for attachment and relationship. Only way you can find fulfillment as a human being is through relationship with yourself, confession, surrender, others, to be like you in community for strength And with and then once you're fully alive in that, you cannot help but go do what you're called to do, Ephesians two:eight through 10. You called for going towards that thing. And I'll tell you, I made to do this. I mean, this is just like teaching training time. But I'm made to do this because I cannot help but think about this all the time. And if I weren't, like, had my heart back, I would be like a obsessional nut. But now I know it's like, okay, this is just faith and life and desire and looking for and wondering. Like sculptors sculpt. Artists paint. You know? Warriors do war. I mean, it's just you you know, mother's mother, father's father. It's what you're made to do. So I want you to hear this, that human beings are the only creatures that carry DNA that can attempt to refuse how they're made. Grass can't. Slugs can't. Possums can't. You know, possums are made to go out in the middle of the road and sit. Just wait till something runs over them. You know? You do that, they'll put you in a psychiatric hospital if you try to be a possum. You know? And possums aren't humans. Done, orange trees don't. Orange trees don't go, this is sickening. Kind of be a pecan tree. And that's funny, isn't it? Sort of, in a Twitter y sort of way. I've been told so many times I'm not funny. It's unbelievable. So I just did it. So it's like, but it's amazing. It's like I can't stop trying. You know? So that's pitiful. Anyway, so this is big news. And what we do, we use our faces to hide our hearts. Now let me tell you something. You go, I tell you nothing. Tickle me? I mean, look, don't give them anything, okay? You get what I'm saying? If your life is at risk, give them nothing. I got that. But I'm talking about living with your family. Is it your wife said, how's your day? I tell you nothing. It's like, Wow. Good one, But instead of us going home and saying, you know what? I'm it was scary today. You know, I did this. I did that. Instead, you know, what I would do, I would go home and I would do the breathing technique. Sit down and go. Wait. Like a prairie dog. I would wait for her to go, so how was it? So I could say, So she would do what? Ask again. So I could say, just a man's world. You know, something like that. Makes me breathe pathetically. And I'll tell you, this is true. This is nineteen eighty nine, eighty eight, eighty nine. I came in and did my breathing thing to get my needs met. So I'm going, and she didn't do anything. Woah. Woah. And I'm like, she's like he was cooking and we were doing like the traditional everything. You know, I'll come in and sit. And she's you know, it's just pathetic. Anyway anyway, I was trying to be like, you know, like people I've seen on TV. Anyway, during that time. But so and then I breathe. And finally, I got up and I went in where she was. I said, what are you are you angry? She goes, no. I'm not angry with anything. I'm not angry. I said, you're obviously angry. I mean, are you kidding me? I've already been here for like fifteen minutes. What are you angry about? She said, I'm not angry. I said, see? Look, okay. Okay. It looks like this is what I have to live with. You know, out there doing my thing out there, come home and get nothing. You can at least hug me. Okay. That that's a good one coming with all that bam bam bam bam. So you can at least hug me. You know? She said, hug you? You're too busy shooting bullets at my feet, throwing Chinese stars over my head, saying dance, girl. It's good. I mean, I can't get rid of 15 feet of you, you nut. I'm like, boy god. This is terrible. I was just beginning as a counselor then. The good news was I could tell it. You know, versus look, man. It's rough in thinking the beginning from what I can tell. I know what those books say, but let me tell you what's I think is going on. So we are created as emotional and spiritual creatures to do one thing in this life, and it's live fully. That's it. That's all we're here for. But you can't live fully unless you're living fully in relationship with yourselves, others, and God. You can't. And until we change and become like one of these, we miss most of the life we're made to have. Up. Adults use their faces to hide their hearts. They fake like they got stuff going on they don't. And they scare the heck out of kids. Because kids look at adults and say, when I grow up, I'm gonna be able to, like, act like nothing bothers me or should be able to. I'm gonna get to a place where I don't have to have fear because they don't. I don't cry when something dies that matters to me because he doesn't. And if and if if I don't like something going on, I just hold out on until I break them. Yeah. I'm not sure if I want to be an adult. But if it means I get to have all the power, I guess that's what I need to grow up to be. And what we raise is our imposters. Now, grown ups are people who change and become. They change and become. They go back to how they were created by God and say, okay. I can't do it like this. I'm I'm I keep feeling. I keep needing. I keep desiring. I keep longing, and I keep hoping.