Dr. Lawrence J. “Larry” Crabb, Jr. is a Christian counselor, author of twenty-five books, Bible teacher, and seminar speaker. He is also the founder and director of “New Ways Ministries”, serves as a spiritual director for the American Association of Christian Counselors, and since 1996 has been the Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence of Colorado Christian University.
Years ago Larry came to see Brennan Manning with a request for spiritual direction. A spirit of bitterness had taken root in his heart and he couldn’t seem to shake it. As he’s sitting in front of Manning confessing the ugly details, Brennan starts to tear up. Instantly Crabb says, “I thought, ‘Oh great! I’ve just triggered something in Brennan’s past that’s now gripped him. Now I’ve got to take care of him!’”
He says, “As I was adding pride and noble self-pity to my already present bitterness, Brennan says sweetly, ‘Larry, every time I’m with you, I’m so drawn to Jesus.’
“I couldn’t have been more surprised. ‘Why?’ I asked. Brennan said, ‘Because you hate anything that gets in between you and Abba.’ “I sang at the top of my lungs in my car all the way home! Someone had seen me with the eyes of redeeming and hopeful love. ‘So that’s the Gospel!’ I remember thinking to myself.”
Indeed it is! The Gospel of Jesus Christ consistently testifies to the intense love and unwavering devotion of Jesus to His own. He is the Author and Sustainer of our faith. And any time we allow anything to get in the way of Him we are restless for His resurrection presence!
Every Easter brings to my mind the story of the Russian, Comrade Lunachatsky, who was lecturing in Moscow’s largest Assembly Hall shortly after the Bolshevist Revolution (ca. 1918). His theme was Religion: Opium of the People.
“All the Christian mysteries are myths,” he said, “supplanted by the light of science. Marxist science is the light that more than substitutes for the legends of Christianity.”
Lunachatsky spoke at great length. When he finished, he was so pleased with himself that he asked if anyone in the audience of some seven-thousand had anything to add.
A twenty-six-year-old Russian Orthodox priest, just ordained, stepped forward. First, he apologized to the Commissar for his ignorance and awkwardness. The Commissar looked at him scornfully, “I’ll give you two minutes, no more.” “It won’t take very long,” the priest assured him. He mounted the platform, turned to the audience and in a loud voice declared, “Christ is Risen!”
And as one man, that vast audience stood to their feet and roared, “He Is Risen Indeed!”
May that response find an echo in your heart and mine, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the source, the reason, and the basis of our faith, hope, and love—not to mention a desperate longing for intimacy!
