Scene 1: The Muslim world is rocked by protest and violence following the release of the film The Innocence of Muslims. The short film mocks Islam and in particular the prophet Muhammad. As a result, many Muslims are calling for the death of the filmmaker.
Scene 2: A guy in his 30’s comes home from work and to find his wife telling him that he has dropped the ball on several things and that she feels like she can’t talk to him. He gets angry and tells her that she is nit-picky, oversensitive, and hard to talk to herself.
Scene 3: A high-school kid shakes up his can of spray paint and angrily begins tagging the City’s graffiti removal truck. The City worker was painting over this kid’s work.
What do all of these scenes have in common? The need to protect and preserve something. What is that something? Honor.
In each case there is an attack by someone outside to the perception held by the person or individuals. In the case of the Muslim world there is outrage over a film that is dishonoring to Muhammad, so therefore, there needs to be a defense of his honor. In the case of the graffiti there is public disrespect and disregard by the City to the one who wrote his tag on the building, so therefore, he must act to preserve his honor. In the case of the husband his view of himself is being revealed to have cracks in it, therefore he must quickly restore himself by finding cracks in other people.
Why is honor so valuable? It is because it is directly connected to our perception of glory. That is what we value or hold dear. We were created to enjoy and promote glory. The trouble is, we have often turned that glory on ourselves.
God as our creator has given us the privilege among the rest of creation to see and savor his glory, his value. We have the opportunity to look upon him and rejoice. Instead, because of sin, we find our glory in created things. Whether nationalistic or personal these created things become our identity and pursuit. We relentlessly work to pursue them.
Think about the kid and the graffiti van. This is a true story that we saw yesterday. This kid was so incensed by the audacity of the City worker to cover him up that he (foolishly) risked public humiliation (arrest) for the potential for public vindication (tagging the truck). But this is always what an inverted heart does; we never think rationally, we always think selfishly.
Joe Six-Pack reminds us that this is not a problem relegated to certain types of people. Everyone is thirsty for glory and everyone is working to preserve some measure of it. You don’t have to tag a truck or engage in violent protest—we know this.
It is against this backdrop that we see the significance of the gospel. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for us we see the one who came in the image of God to rescue inverted hearts. He came to save people who have built their identity, purpose, and joy upon things other than God. And through the power of the Holy Spirit we go from the promotion of our glory to the promotion of God’s. Even though Christians still have issues with glory, like an old smoker’s cough, we are persevering as we are repenting and resetting.
It is important to remember that as ubiquitous as the problem of sin is, the answer of mercy is greater still:
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:22-23)