What if God isn’t who you think He is and neither are you? That’s the question The Cure asks. Written by John Lunch, Bruce McNicole, and Bill Thrall, The Cure is a mix of allegory and tender truth. It’s the allegorical tale of a man exploring two different paths, two different rooms, and two different destinies with subsequent commentary from the authors on how this man’s discoveries play out in our own Christian faith.
A different read than you may be used to, we follow a person’s journey down the road of “Pleasing God” and then down the road of “Trusting God.” He experiences the “Room of Good Intentions” along the first road and “The Room of Grace” along the second. He contrasts his surroundings, reactions, and state of being within the differing rooms to paint the picture of the Christian struggle: to a) be “good” or b) be “loved.”
So often we neglect authenticity and grace in our efforts to prove ourselves worthy and lovable. We put on masks and attempt to tackle our spring cleaning list of sin. Sin-control and behavior maintenance define our walk with God and other people. We picture ourselves at point A and God at point B, all the while with a chasm of our messy sin in between. The writers show us how this could not be further from the truth. This identity is a lie. This identity is not the one designed for us long before the foundations of the earth were laid.
Thankfully, the adventure leads us to “The Room of Grace” and a renewal and lightness with authentic, vulnerable, and understanding friends. These people point our main character (and us) toward the truth of who he is (who we are) and who God really is. Though we run from grace back to good intentions from time to time, grace is always there. It beckons us to return and welcomes us home with open arms. And when we’ve found out who we really are in Christ, we’re on our way to living out the destiny He’s prepared for us. God is no longer on the other side of our trash heap of sin, but instead He’s beside us, arm around us, walking with us.
This book isn’t long, but it may require some “digestion” between chapters – some introspection, honest self-examination, and prayer much like David’s in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting.” Great for an individual read or a study group, the book includes discussion guides for each of the seven chapters. It’s full of golden truth nuggets like, “What if it was less important that anything ever gets fixed than that nothing has to be hidden?”
A unique text for sure, we’re forced to re-examine our views on grace, on self-effort, and on healing, and subsequently able to enjoy both God’s cure and The Cure.