Here is devotion #5 based on songs on Downhere’s latest release Ending Is Beginning.

Something Heavenly
by Marc Martel of Downhere

If I could pick my guardian angel’s brain for a few minutes, I think I’d ask he/she/it if the ability to experience the spiritual side of life as plainly as the physical makes obeying God any easier. (Assuming that’s even a valid question… who knows if there are more dimensions than physical and spiritual? Furthermore, what if God removed angels’ right to choose between good and evil after the fall of Lucifer? And why am I already on such a tangent?) What if I could see every angle, every perspective in any given problem, being aware of every contributing factor? Would that make me a better person? Would I be more likely to follow through with what is right?

As a Canadian living in the USA, one of the contrasts I’ve observed between these two subtly different cultures is that of the value ascribed to education. I’m not just talking about “book smarts”, but overall awareness of our surroundings as well. In general, Canadians love knowledge. We have a first-rate educational system. Right or wrong, we often quietly boast about knowing more about world news than most Americans know about their own country – not to generalize and insinuate that Americans’ mental capacity is any lower, of course. I think the reason for this is that Canada isn’t the current focal point of the modern world. What goes on in the Great White North is admittedly much less fascinating in comparison to the constant media circus revolving around our neighbors to the South. Since there are less reasons to focus on us, maybe that makes us Canadians more apt observers of the world outside our borders… just maybe. So, being Canadian myself, I’ve grown up with this idea that the more stuff you learn, and the more you are aware of the world around you, the more useful to society you become. I still think there’s some truth to that – but only some. A lot of crime is born out of ignorance and misunderstanding. But the same could be said for knowledge. Look no further than the likes of Hitler or Stalin to see really smart people doing really disgusting things. I’m thankful for the thirst for knowledge that I grew up with, but I also know that it’s only what I do with that knowledge that matters in the end.

One thing I do know is that “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (2 Corinthians 8:1) was written for people just like me. Every time my eyes even glance over that phrase I shake my head thinking, “Marc, don’t be that guy!” I instantly get this repulsive visual of myself, and my prideful, enlarged head towering ridiculously over the people around me, as I look down my nose at them. If what I know and learn doesn’t spur me on to love, what’s it good for? I’m privileged to speak two languages fluently, but the apostle Paul writes later on in the same letter that even if I speak in the tongue of angels, I’m nothing more than a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (I’m glad he included the gong in there for clarification, because a well-placed cymbal sounds pretty fantastic!). I’m sure it would be fair to expand and assume that even if I, like an angel, could experience the supernatural as easily as the natural, I’d be just as likely to fall tragically short of what God desires for me. Lucifer removed any doubt of that!

What is it that makes me more like Christ? My vast Canadian knowledge? Ha! My talent? My servant hood? Because of God’s Word, I have to believe that those good things I feel I deserve a big pat on the back for will all fade to nothing in the end if love is absent in my doing them. Only the one who is Love can give any value to my little efforts. The grace that God extends me through the sacrifice of his son Jesus, because He loves me, is the one thing bridging the gap between He and I. That gift from God transforms me, allowing me to move from the fallen earthly being I was born as, to becoming the heavenly one He always intended me to be. And if I’m going to boast in any sort of knowledge, maybe I should keep it to that.

In closing, I would like to say that those shirts with “CANADA: AMERICA’S HAT” printed on them should all be changed to “CANADA: AMERICA’S HEAD.” Peace!

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Hear clips from all the songs on Ending Is Beginning on Downhere’s YMZ artist page. The album is available now at your local Canadian Christian retailer.

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