Magnificent Obsession

by Dreamer on Mar.03, 2009, under Reviews, Truth

cross

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? – Luke 15:4

Only someone who has a deep love or obsession for that sheep will, don’t you think? Well that was what God did- for us!

I was window shopping at a mall the other day and in a book sale, I saw this book by Paolo Coelho, a best selling author. The book was aptly titled, “The Zahir.”

“The Zahir” is a novel about love and obsession. The concept of the zahir was taken from Arabic tradition.

In Arabic, this word literally means visible, manifest or evident. In Muslim communities, the masses use the word for “beings or things which have the terrible power to be unforgettable, and whose image eventually drives people mad.”

In Coelho’s usage, the zahir is something or someone who (or which) when we experience (encounter or meet depending on whether it is a who or a which) cannot be erased from our system. The zahir becomes the reason we live. He (or it) becomes the center of our universe.

It was said that the first witness of a zahir was a Persian by the name of Luft Ali Azur. In his encyclopedic work entitled “Temple of Fire,” Ali Azur relates that in a certain school in Shiraz there was a copper astrolabe “constructed in such a way that any man that looked upon it but once could think of nothing else.” It was a zahir.

In 1832, a man named Meadows Taylor was said to have recounted an account when on the outskirts of Bhuj, another place in Persia (now called Iran), he has heard the expression “verily he has looked upon the tiger.” He was told that the reference was to a magic tiger that was the perdition of all who saw it, even from a great distance, for never afterward could a person stop thinking about it.”

Such is how deep love and obsession work. It consumes you. It makes you think of nothing else or no one else. It was like that deep love that God felt for us. He leaves heaven and all its glory and splendor (his ninety-nine?)to find us- the lost sheep in his pasture.

So as you may have realized by now, this blog isn’t about the Coelho novel. It is about finding the best and the greatest zahir there is in the multiverse (assuming the latest assertions about the existence of multiple and alternate universes is correct).

This greatest (and best) zahir I am talking about is a person. It is suppose to be a person. And his name is Jesus.

The Bible declares Jesus to be the Son of the living God (Matthew 16: 16) who was given by the Father as a gift for fallen humanity (John 3: 16). He is the demonstration of God’s love for sinners (Romans 5: 8).

The “Good Book” even says that “in him we move and live and have our being” (Acts 17: 28). Therefore, If we are to have a zahir in our life (and we should), that zahir has to be Jesus.

While all other obsessions are fatal, obsession with Jesus is healthy and will produce a better life for the obsessed.

Jesus’ own words in the gospel of John says, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

That life according to theologians is the “zoe” life. It is life in the realm of the spirit- a life that transcends even life in the flesh which we (and scientists) often call the “bios” life.

Obsession with this bios life creates all kinds of hedonistic leanings in us and we become victims of the lust of the eyes, of the lust of the flesh and of the pride of life. History is laden with concrete examples of this.

If there is a license in the Bible for obsession, it is obsession for Jesus. The language of Jesus, himself, about this is somewhat heavy.

In Matthew 10:37, Jesus Said; “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Later in verse 39, he further said, “he who has found his life will lose it; he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

You see, abundant life begins or ends by choosing or not choosing Jesus as the zahir of our life. The rich young ruler lost his, shall we lose ours too?

Popularity: 84% [?]

Share and Enjoy:

:decision, God, life, love, passion

Jimboy
March 5th, 2009 on 3:19 pm
I can say that you are well articulated in giving the background of “The Zahir” in its historical context. However, it is unclear the relation of the lost sheep about our decision to choose Jesus(”the greatest Zahir”). Are you trying to say that it is our personal motivation to choose Jesus or it is Jesus who first Choose us? It seems to me that the parable is about a sacrificial love of Jesus to mankind and how he gave up everything that he had to reach us. So, it is Jesus who make the first move and not vice versa. Therefore,I believed that our salvation has been predestined by God even when we are yet sinner and in his perfect timing,we cannot refuse when God calls us. Yes, i agree that it is our personal choice to have the abundant life through accepting Jesus, but how can you reconcile the fact on how God choose us and the fact that we must to choose Him in order to obtain life to the fullest? Another thing is, are you saying that we must to be bounded in God’s Sovereignty and despise our own freewill? Very complicated matter i think!!
dreamer
March 12th, 2009 on 1:32 am
dude,

sorry for the late reply. i want to answer your questions bit by bit:

first,am i trying to say that it is our personal motivation to choose Jesus or was it Jesus who first chose us?

my answer is that the apostle John made it clear in his epistle that God first loved us. He showed this when he decided to leave the ninety nine to find the lost sheep. examine the beginning of this entry. everything started with God’s love for a lost sheep. That includes you and me. I made it plainer by saying, “Such is how deep love and obsession work. It consumes you. It makes you think of nothing else or no one else. It was like that deep love that God felt for us. He leaves heaven and all its glory and splendor (his ninety-nine?)to find us- the lost sheep in his pasture.”

secondly, can we not refuse when God calls us? My answer is yes, we can. I understand that you said we can’t. The belief that we can’t refuse God’s grace is called Irresistible Grace and is part of John Calvin’s TULIP which I suspect, you are aware of. The history of Christianity is full of debates about this area and I don’t think one blog can end the centuries of debate between Arminian an Calvinistic theology so I will not dwell on that.

thirdly, how can I reconcile the fact that God loved us first and the fact that we must choose Him to be the center of our life in order to obtain life to the fullest? My answer is by balancing both. We were not told to choose sides because those are Bible truths. God loved us first. This means if God had not sent Jesus to die for us, there is no salvation. He has done his part in saving us. He bought us with his Son’s blood. But it doesn’t end there. we have to respond to God’s love by believing in Him and in what He has done for us on the cross. In essence, we must choose to love Him in return (because our freewill suggests we can choose or not choose to love Him back). Now by making Jesus the zahir or the center of our life, John says we choose life and that life is abundant.

Thank you for your comment brother. May this simple clarification help you.

God bless!
bok
March 15th, 2009 on 1:22 am
my answer to Jimboy’s question about (”God predestined our salvation…”) is another question that goes this way, WHY DO WE STILL NEED TO EVANGELIZE SINCE GOD HAS ALREADY PREDESTINED SALVATION OF MANKIND?

God Bless!
dreamer
July 31st, 2009 on 12:59 am
I found another illustration similar to the “zahir” we are talking about here. I found it in the fourth installment of the novel, “Twilight” by Stephanie Myer. In “Breaking Dawn,” she introduced the concept of imprinting among the Quileute wolf pack. When one imprints, the person he imprints to becomes the center of his existence. I hope and pray that we can all “imprint” on God who is the greatest and best “zahir” of our life.
dreamer
August 29th, 2009 on 12:40 am
I am currently writing a sequel to this post which is actually my favorite in this blog.