Romans 15:1,5
Matthew 5:41,42
"We must put others before ourselves - putting their needs before our own."
It's kind of funny. I've been in GJ for the weekend and I met my sister for coffee over which we talked about the very thing that Romans 15:1,5 talks about; that we must "bear with the failings of the weak" or "carry the weaknesses of those who are not strong" and "not to please ourselves". This covers a lot of ground in the Christian life. It can easily, and rightly, be applied to family, friends, neighbors and those beyond our daily context. It is also very integral to the Christian life in so many ways and in an equal number of ways it is so very hard to grok.
The very nature of the self wants to serve...itself. We want our needs met before we ever budge to try an meet someone else's needs. Once we make an effort to meet someone else's needs then we want recognition, appreciation, even glory, deference and reverence if we can get it. This of course is self serving and not as altruistic as we'd deceive ourselves into believing.
God wants us to have a pure, selfless, serving heart before him. That is the ideal, but he is more than ready to meet us right where we are. (Un?)Fortunately, He is a good Father who will not let his children miss out on a valuable lesson. When we work in our own strength, with our own motivations, under our own delusions, for purposes not His then we will fail. We will burn out. We will be desiccated husks of potential. We will find ourselves empty with nothing left to give and then we will blame anyone but ourselves. We will accuse our fellow believers of asking too much and giving nothing to us in return. We will blame God for the perceived failure. We will lash out at anyone else rather than see the truth that we didn't do it in His timing, under His power, or for His reasons.
Often we begin to identify ourselves with a particular ministry or set of behaviors and say, "This is just what I do". The danger there is that the perceived success or failure of a ministry becomes intensely personal, and it is never meant to be. When we draw from our personal well of water there is an end to the supply. When drawing from Jesus there is no end. We get so caught up in what "has to be done" that we rarely pause and say, "What would You say I need to do". When our alignment is off then of course we will come up empty. He is the Living Water of which there is no end to the supply.
My sister and I discussed if it was possible to be "Good without God". Definition of terms can be a tricky thing so I kind of skirted that by saying "Oh yeah, absolutely a Atheist can feed a hungry person, give water to a sick person, or bind up the wounds of an injured person." So what is the difference between an Atheist or a Christian doing it? I think the answer is two-fold and fully debatable by the Atheist.
Firstly, it is a question of motivation. I don't believe and Atheist is capable of altruism. Certainly there are Christians who struggle with altruism. I have my own personal doubts about those who live in mansions and preach in crystal cathedrals, but there are those whose lives have been truly transformed, those who are even in process of being changed by Jesus, that can give without thought of self. Could an Atheist truly sell all of his possessions, give them to the poor, expect nothing in return at all, and walk away actually happy? I truly doubt that. And why is that? Because what they have is a deep part of who they are. A rich Jewish man in the New Testament wasn't capable of even giving it to the poor and the Bible says he wanted to "justify himself". How can we sacrifice our time, effort, money, possessions, and our very lives to help others? Because we have a God that we know in our bones will supply all our need and so there never is a bottom to the well. The Atheist only has their own self to draw upon and that is finite.
The second difference is purely metaphysical. When an Atheist hands a hungry person a piece of bread and Christian hands a hungry person a piece of bread there is something completely different going on there. Is it a coincidence that the entire civil rights movement of the 60's found its success not in the mocking fist of the Black Panther movement nor in the Nation of Islam, but in the non-violent, respectful but still resistant work of a Reverend? Certainly MLK was not a saint, but he was a believer. When an Atheist hands a hungry person a piece of bread the man's hunger is satisfied for but a moment. I believe that when a Christian hands a hungry man a piece of bread something, a power, is released in the spiritual realm that alters both of them forever even if they never meet again. Neither goes away unchanged and they both draw closer to Jesus even if they never speak again. The Spirit does something there in a believer's act whereas the Atheist's rings hollow only satisfying the surface need.
We are called to put others before ourselves. In the U.S.A. that message can easily get lost in the mass of messages calling for us to consume, to make it all about ourselves, and "have it your way". Those outside of the Way look and scoff at it as an invitation to be a doormat or abused by leadership. The truth, however, is far grander than anything they can imagine or conceive of.
I must decrease so that He may increase...both within me and without me.
Pax,
W
Showing posts with label Ego. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ego. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
First Principles: There is No Enemy
I've decided that among other things I should enumerate my core beliefs or "first principles" for anyone who cares to read this blog.
Now, I have to explain a few things first. These first principles are beyond the basic tenets of my faith. My first principles are not completely unchangeable. They are just very unlikely to be changed. My unchangeable principles cannot be violated.
Those Immutable Principles are the following: 1) There is a God. 2) He is the God of the Bible 3) the Bible is His holy and infallible word and 4) He sent his son Jesus who died as payment for the sins of those who believe, rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father 5) God is triune, three in one.
Now, beyond those things we can argue. Arguing first principles won't get you very far but it is a possibility...though extremely remote. These First Principles are not in any particular order of importance.
There is no enemy.
Notice that I do not use a capital "e" for enemy. Non-Christians will be confused as to why this might be important, whereas fellow Christians will mark it quickly. I'll get into that in a bit because I think the Enemy is not at as important as some do.
There is no enemy.
This First Principle came into my awareness through a Guy Ritchie movie called Revolver which I can't whole heartedly recommend to anyone. There's sex, violence, drug use, and the like that comes along with the gangster subject matter.
I did find it to be quite interesting on a spiritual and philosophical level. It comes from the period in Guy Ritchie's life where he had begun to be interested in Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. The story follows a newly released gangster named Jake who wants revenge on the man who put him in jail for so many years. He falls into debt with an unconventional pair of loan sharks who seem less interested in getting Jake back on his feet and more interested in rehabilitating his very soul. They tell him that if he wants the money he has to preform some strange acts, each of which is designed to be a blow to his ego even going so far as to ask forgiveness from the man who put him in jail. The final scenes where Jake does this are amazing to watch as just the simple act of submission, asking forgiveness almost makes the mob boss go insane because the concept is so foreign.
Central to the movie is something the loan sharks tell Jake. "There is no enemy". They leave it at that and give Jake time to chew on it. More specifically, there is no enemy...outside of ourselves.
As we make our way through life we can't help but notice that there are people who like us and people who don't. There are people who work for or with us and we think there are those who are actively working against us. Somehow we find ourselves so arrogant as to believe this or that person is our nemesis, our roadblock to success or peace and self-harmony. The truth is, barring the occasional psychotic individual who would fixate like that, they aren't our enemy. Our own ego manifests and interprets what that person does as being adversarial. We have this innate desire to be the hero of our own story and every hero requires a villain. There is a voice in our head that is all to happy to provide one. An individual's ego is a potent force that warps the perception of the world. Once we see that the enemy we perceive is actually a mirror we hold up to ourselves, the world changes. That voice, that ego, is the greatest con artist in the world. It could lead a man to destroy everything that is good in his life. It spends so much of our lives, this other voice, trying to convince you that it IS you. But it's not.
As Jake says at his moment of realization:
"There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the (crappy) boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. "Fear or revere me, but please think I'm special." We share an addiction. We're approval junkies. We're all in it for the slap on the back and the gold watch. The "hip, hip, hoo-rah." Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Cos we're just monkeys wrapped in suits, begging for the approval of others"
Once we can let go of that addiction, that approval of others, then we can begin the hard work of figuring out our faith. Pride and ego are the twin forces that will kill you spiritually every time. And where do they live? Inside every one of us. I was asked a couple times by the pastor at my last church to give a sermon. The first time it was OK. Afterwards people shook my hand, slapped my back, and told me I did a good job. I was fairly uncomfortable but chalked it up to my typical low level social anxiety. It wasn't until my pastor critiqued it honestly and fairly that I started to feel better. The second time I think maybe two people told me I did a great job and I felt pride and ego ganging up on me in my head. You know what I did? Dishes. I found something dirty, inconvenient, and away from the praise of others...and I was better for it.
Now, back to the Enemy with a capital "e".
Do I believe in Satan/Lucifer and all his demons as literal beings with literal powers and sway on this planet? Yes. I absolutely do. Do I believe there's a demon in every corner or whispering in an alcoholic's ear? That part I'm not entirely sure on, and I lean more towards "no" the older I get. This may frustrate my hardcore Christian brothers and sisters, but I'll say this; Given the natural state of humanity since the fall, I'm not sure that they need to do much at all. Satan was right there in the Garden of Eden to push Eve and Adam to eat of the fruit, but he's nowhere to be seen, scripturally, when Cain kills Able. Yes, God warns Cain that "sin is crouching at you door" but not Lucifer. He says "you must master it". It's something within him that Cain can control. When Lucifer and/or his demons shows up I fully believe things would feel different. What's the first thing that angels say when they show up? "Don't be afraid". I can only assume that is because people have an innate fear of something larger than themselves. In my thinking the situation has to have a quantifiable difference beyond my everyday struggles.
The Hebrew word for Satan literally translates to "adversary". Pharaoh of was Moses' "satan". Goliath was David's "satan".
For me, I don't need a Satan outside of myself in order to get into a lot of trouble. The enemy, the ego, the adversary, the "satan" within is quite a handful on its own. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about Lucifer and his demon buddies because I figure God has that one to sort out. Besides, how effective would I be against the one without until I let Jesus deal thoroughly with the one within?
Pax,
W
Now, I have to explain a few things first. These first principles are beyond the basic tenets of my faith. My first principles are not completely unchangeable. They are just very unlikely to be changed. My unchangeable principles cannot be violated.
Those Immutable Principles are the following: 1) There is a God. 2) He is the God of the Bible 3) the Bible is His holy and infallible word and 4) He sent his son Jesus who died as payment for the sins of those who believe, rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father 5) God is triune, three in one.
Now, beyond those things we can argue. Arguing first principles won't get you very far but it is a possibility...though extremely remote. These First Principles are not in any particular order of importance.
There is no enemy.
Notice that I do not use a capital "e" for enemy. Non-Christians will be confused as to why this might be important, whereas fellow Christians will mark it quickly. I'll get into that in a bit because I think the Enemy is not at as important as some do.
There is no enemy.
This First Principle came into my awareness through a Guy Ritchie movie called Revolver which I can't whole heartedly recommend to anyone. There's sex, violence, drug use, and the like that comes along with the gangster subject matter.
I did find it to be quite interesting on a spiritual and philosophical level. It comes from the period in Guy Ritchie's life where he had begun to be interested in Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. The story follows a newly released gangster named Jake who wants revenge on the man who put him in jail for so many years. He falls into debt with an unconventional pair of loan sharks who seem less interested in getting Jake back on his feet and more interested in rehabilitating his very soul. They tell him that if he wants the money he has to preform some strange acts, each of which is designed to be a blow to his ego even going so far as to ask forgiveness from the man who put him in jail. The final scenes where Jake does this are amazing to watch as just the simple act of submission, asking forgiveness almost makes the mob boss go insane because the concept is so foreign.
Central to the movie is something the loan sharks tell Jake. "There is no enemy". They leave it at that and give Jake time to chew on it. More specifically, there is no enemy...outside of ourselves.
As we make our way through life we can't help but notice that there are people who like us and people who don't. There are people who work for or with us and we think there are those who are actively working against us. Somehow we find ourselves so arrogant as to believe this or that person is our nemesis, our roadblock to success or peace and self-harmony. The truth is, barring the occasional psychotic individual who would fixate like that, they aren't our enemy. Our own ego manifests and interprets what that person does as being adversarial. We have this innate desire to be the hero of our own story and every hero requires a villain. There is a voice in our head that is all to happy to provide one. An individual's ego is a potent force that warps the perception of the world. Once we see that the enemy we perceive is actually a mirror we hold up to ourselves, the world changes. That voice, that ego, is the greatest con artist in the world. It could lead a man to destroy everything that is good in his life. It spends so much of our lives, this other voice, trying to convince you that it IS you. But it's not.
As Jake says at his moment of realization:
"There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the (crappy) boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. "Fear or revere me, but please think I'm special." We share an addiction. We're approval junkies. We're all in it for the slap on the back and the gold watch. The "hip, hip, hoo-rah." Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Cos we're just monkeys wrapped in suits, begging for the approval of others"
Once we can let go of that addiction, that approval of others, then we can begin the hard work of figuring out our faith. Pride and ego are the twin forces that will kill you spiritually every time. And where do they live? Inside every one of us. I was asked a couple times by the pastor at my last church to give a sermon. The first time it was OK. Afterwards people shook my hand, slapped my back, and told me I did a good job. I was fairly uncomfortable but chalked it up to my typical low level social anxiety. It wasn't until my pastor critiqued it honestly and fairly that I started to feel better. The second time I think maybe two people told me I did a great job and I felt pride and ego ganging up on me in my head. You know what I did? Dishes. I found something dirty, inconvenient, and away from the praise of others...and I was better for it.
Now, back to the Enemy with a capital "e".
Do I believe in Satan/Lucifer and all his demons as literal beings with literal powers and sway on this planet? Yes. I absolutely do. Do I believe there's a demon in every corner or whispering in an alcoholic's ear? That part I'm not entirely sure on, and I lean more towards "no" the older I get. This may frustrate my hardcore Christian brothers and sisters, but I'll say this; Given the natural state of humanity since the fall, I'm not sure that they need to do much at all. Satan was right there in the Garden of Eden to push Eve and Adam to eat of the fruit, but he's nowhere to be seen, scripturally, when Cain kills Able. Yes, God warns Cain that "sin is crouching at you door" but not Lucifer. He says "you must master it". It's something within him that Cain can control. When Lucifer and/or his demons shows up I fully believe things would feel different. What's the first thing that angels say when they show up? "Don't be afraid". I can only assume that is because people have an innate fear of something larger than themselves. In my thinking the situation has to have a quantifiable difference beyond my everyday struggles.
The Hebrew word for Satan literally translates to "adversary". Pharaoh of was Moses' "satan". Goliath was David's "satan".
For me, I don't need a Satan outside of myself in order to get into a lot of trouble. The enemy, the ego, the adversary, the "satan" within is quite a handful on its own. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about Lucifer and his demon buddies because I figure God has that one to sort out. Besides, how effective would I be against the one without until I let Jesus deal thoroughly with the one within?
Pax,
W
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