Suck [suhk] : (v) to draw into the mouth by producing a partial vacuum by action of the lip and tongue; to draw or be drawn by or as if by suction; (n) an act of instance of sucking, a sucking force.[1]
That’s the official definition of the word “suck,” but language evolves.
We know that in its native use, the word “suck” was used to describe a person sucking through a straw or a baby sucking his mother’s breast, for example. More recently, it became vulgar vernacular to describe a sex act. Now it’s evolved into a slang expression to express disappointment or disgust in someone or something (i.e. “That movie really sucked.”).
As early as 2006, Seth Stevenson at Slate made the case that the word and its usage are here to stay. Notice what he wrote,
“Sucks is the most concise, emphatic way we have to say something is no good. As a one-syllable intransitive verb, it offers superb economy.”[2]
It’s “concise.” It’s “emphatic.” It “offers superb economy.”
Anyone can appreciate getting to the point and saying what you mean, but perhaps in our rush toward efficiency, we’ve grown impatient with the very things that enlarge our soul and allow us to experience delight and wonder in God. [ctt template=”3″ link=”E1w5V” via=”no” ]Perhaps in our rush toward efficiency, we’ve grown impatient with the very things that enlarge our soul and allow us to experience delight and wonder in God.[/ctt] Maybe in our “say-it-like-it-is” bumper sticker, insta-social-media, vulgate world, we have lost our taste for the things that take more time to grow. Perhaps we’ve traded in beauty for brass, grace for gossip, and the sacred for slang.
The result is a people who thinks and feels and lives in the shallowlands of our own immediate experience. We are often completely unaware of the historical context of our moment. We assume we are the first ones to grapple with relational or theological tensions, for example. We function as if God were dead along with His cosmic purposes replaced instead by our current personal agendas and preferences.
We function as if God were dead along with His cosmic purposes replaced instead by our current personal agendas and preferences.
We think of ourselves to the exclusion of what God might be doing in the life of the offensive or difficult person next to us. Rather than sitting patiently in God’s presence and allowing His Word to wash over us daily, we rush to our coffee, throw back a quick verse of the day, and start punching out our to-do list until we can return to our binge watch.
This shallowland-living not only dulls our experiences and undermines our relationships, but it corrodes our soul leaving us blinded to a greater vision of God. Notice the contrast in one of the most remarkable moments in the life of the apostle John:
I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” Revelation 1:9-11
In the slow pace of exile, John was in the Spirit on Sunday morning. His conditions were not ideal and they would not improve. Although separated by the sea from the people he loved the most, he shared fellowship with them as a brother and partner in Christ’s afflictions that accompanied Kingdom work. John was in no place of influence. The hustle and bustle of big city daily life had left him behind. The earth was spinning with no notice of him at all. Yet John escaped from the shallowlands with ears to hear and eyes to see and the opportunity to record the most magnificent vision of God any person had ever heard or seen.
God can act in an instant, but that doesn’t seem to be His modus operandi. We value next-day delivery, fast food, and instant messaging, but expedience is not God’s chief aim. It does not appear He values it at all. The sacred, on the other hand, is cultivated, birthed, and nurtured in our soul as the Holy Spirit applies appropriate pressure over an extended period of time. [ctt template=”3″ link=”3Tua7″ via=”no” ]The sacred is cultivated, birthed, and nurtured in our soul as the Holy Spirit applies appropriate pressure over an extended period of time.[/ctt]
We grow in grace as we patiently cooperate with Him by enduring afflictions with joy, slowing our speech while quickening our hearing, and learning to think or “dwell” on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy…” Philippians 4:8
We cannot dwell in a hurry. We only dwell, we only see God’s glory, we’re only transformed by His Spirit, we’re only attentive to His voice by stilling ourselves in His presence. With His Word open before us our appetite to know both His works and His ways emerge. With our hearts captivated by the riches of His grace, we persist in prayer and wait on Him by faith to do more than we could ask or think. By His grace, we are transported from the shallowlands of base pursuits and futilities on the little screens to the highlands where our hearts are overwhelmed by his glorious light. [ctt template=”3″ link=”sPtU9″ via=”no” ]By His grace, we are transported from the shallowlands of base pursuits and futilities on the little screens to the highlands where our hearts are overwhelmed by his glorious light.[/ctt]
Like Solomon’s wife of Proverbs 31, even with hardship on our backs, we smile at the future. Our speech is sweetened not with “superb economy,” but with holy passions, lovingkindness, and confident expectation. We are entertained and inspired by compelling stories on the screen, canvas, or musical charts of love, loss, and redemption—the story of God found in every story ever told. We take the necessary time and give ourselves to the necessary education to find the right word fitly spoken for they are like apples of gold in settings of silver (Proverbs 25:11).
From the highlands, we sacrificially love our family and serve our neighbors with an open hand showing hospitality to all. Cautious of the Enemy’s work of sowing discord and bitterness, we forgive others like we have been forgiven. Rejecting a harsh or critical spirit, we instead create an atmosphere of grace where God can do His better work in others and in us.
Rejecting a harsh or critical spirit, we instead create an atmosphere of grace where God can do His better work in others and in us.
Above all else as believers who have ourselves been imputed with Christ’s righteousness and who see every person bearing the image of God, we serve as ministers of reconciliation humbly and powerfully pleading for souls to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the high calling of Christ Jesus our Lord that cannot be experienced in the sweeping, expedient cultural currents of the shallowlands. This is the high calling of Christ that is instead experienced in patient and enduring intimacy with the King of Creation who sweeps us from our feet onto our knees.
[2] Stevenson, Seth: Suck It Up-A Defense of the Much-Maligned Word, www.slate.com (2006).