lifeboat theory

The Lifeboat Theory is courtesy of the great Donald Miller, who defined it in his book Searching For God Knows What. This is a reply to an email about giving.

We should give. Sure, we should do it for the adoration of God. The audience of One.

The fact is that we are never going to be givers until we realize that we have been set free from saving ourselves, worrying about ourselves, defending ourselves.

To borrow from a great author-the world is set up in this way:

We are all like people in a lifeboat. The lifeboat is sinking and if we don't throw someone off, then the whole ship is going down. So everyone angles, fights, argues all the reasons why they belong. Why they deserve to be there. Whenever we feel inadequate, whenever it seems that someone is disrespecting us, whenever we think that we are being devalued, we feel threatened. We feel like we are insignificant, we feel as if we are unimportant. As if we are not loved. We feel as if our position in the lifeboat is being compromised. Look back at the way things were on the playground at recess, the way minorities have been and continued to be treated, the way we Christians are supposed to love one another but rarely ever do. These are all pointing to something. They are pointing to our fear that we are not secure. That we do not matter. That we are not loved.

So if we could get this idea around our heads that there is a God in heaven who actually does love us, who has called us by name; then we can relax and take a deep breath. We can realize that this whole lifeboat system is a lie, it is bankrupt, and that we be free to give freely, radically, graciously-why? Because we don't have anything to lose. Everything we need comes from our Father. If we, as Christians, look back at the things that he has done for us, let alone SAVE US, then we really should remember that we are going to be fine. We can begin to give and to give means that we are finally learning to love the way our Jesus did.

Just look at that group of born losers called the disciples. They were pretty worthless, but they changed the world. They did this because they were sure that their Jesus actually loved them. They were willing to be mocked, tortured, even murdered because they believed that was love. They gave their lives and John-who dies in exile from his own people- calls himself to his death "The one whom Jesus loved." He constantly referred to himself as this because he allowed this truth become his identity. And because he knew this was who he was; he was able to give and give freely. He was able to change the world.