Eroding our gods
When I fail to honor and value a person
from whom I hope to receive fulfillment, I am actually debilitating
my own ability to feel valuable and fulfilled. Thus I set myself up
for my own destruction as my ability for pleasure diminishes even
while my thirst for it increases.
There are many examples of this that
could be explored. But the end of this path is the experience of hell
itself where one is overwhelmed with intense desire for satisfaction
only to find that they have themselves destroyed their own ability to
experience it. This process of self-destruction happens over time
during which selfishness and exploitation of others erodes the heart,
diminishes capacity for love and hardens the soul. This hardening of
the heart leads toward this tragic condition that becomes the reality
all find themselves in who choose the good-bad Tree of Knowledge over
the Tree of Life.
Exploitation is the very process by
which one destroys the very design built into them by the Creator
through which eternal life can be embraced. Once there is complete
loss of this capacity to receive and pass on love, one is left with
only total isolation, loneliness, fear and potential frustration for
eternity. With no hope to ever experience satisfaction again for
anything added to the knowledge that it is no longer possible to
blame anyone other than one's self for their condition, the only
option left is to beg God to take back the gift of life He originally
gave and to embrace eternal non-existence rather than the torture of
living in frustrating emptiness with the glory of love all around
while unable to enjoy it.
If we became more aware of this vital
truth we might have more disincentive toward sin. Sin itself is what
erodes and destroys our ability to be loved and to love. Selfishness
has within it the seeds that produce hardness of heart, a condition
that if properly understood would be terrifying to anyone with any
sense of sanity. Our current problem is that the deception of sin has
so blinded our minds to this potential condition that even though we
are still salvageable we have little interest in availing ourselves
of the remedy provided to heal and repair us.
What destroys my capacity for thriving
or has power to increase it?
When I view another person as an object
to use to make myself feel temporarily better, I am in the mode of
eroding my own capacity to thrive within the circuit of love designed
by God. This circuit of love is the only way I can become more alive
and be connected to the sole Source of life. This circuit offers me
the option to love and serve and enhance others rather than exploit,
devalue and destroy.
Selfishness blinds me to the reality of
how destructive it really is to being. Selfishness creates an
illusion that I can feel more alive or find satisfaction by wresting
life away from others in some way. We don't usually think of it in
these terms as it would become repulsive more readily. The deception
of sin will not tolerate letting us to think that clearly. But the
truth is that selfishness is self-destruction while sincerely
assuming we can use others to make us feel more alive and find
satisfaction.
Everyone is born with primordial
desires to live and thrive and increase. Death is a foreign concept
in God's creation that was designed only for life as represented in
the symbol of the Tree of Life. God is the only source of all life
and He designed a circuit of life in which every creature can
perfectly function as long as they live in harmony with the principle
of agape love.
Satan's counterfeit system threw us out
of harmony with the circuit of life causing us to think we can
function in reverse to our original design without resulting in
damage. But the reality is that this is impossible. Yet because Satan
also has blinded our ability to perceive reality, we intuitively
assume this is not only possible but are driven in that direction by
nature. Yet this naturalness is not from our created design but
rather the deformed nature that infects all the fallen beings born
since Adam.
Every fallen human being is now born
with a predisposition to be selfish, that innate self-destructive
tendency that tends toward death. We cannot help being born in this
fatal condition, but God has designed a way of escape for all who are
willing to humble themselves to embrace the truth. Jesus came as a
divine infusion of the love that was lost to counteract and repair
all the damage that selfishness and sin wreaked in the human heart.
At the same time God also respects our freedom to reject His healing
provision if we refuse to accept His love. But He will not rest His
efforts to draw us into His healing provision as long as there is any
trace of hope left and there is the slightest capacity within still
in tack that might be used to awaken repentance of the heart.
So back to the original observation at
the beginning. Natural sin/selfishness in my heart is my tendency or
proclivity to want to exploit others, objects or situations to gain
some sort of perceived life or pleasure for me while remaining
outside the circuit of love/life as designed by God. Only in this
circuit can I experience true satisfaction, life-giving pleasure and
an ability to thrive as I exercise my will to stay in harmony with
the underlying principles of agape love. Every other choice leads
away from love and life just as going any direction from the North
pole is to go South.
But unlike being stuck in one spot on
the North pole with no option to go anywhere without going South,
living in harmony with the principles of love upon which life was
designed to function is to discover the utmost potential and freedom,
not restrictions of freedom as our fallen nature asserts. To be
restored into harmony with the natural principles of life upon which
we live in harmony with the universe, we find our true potential for
infinite growth, pleasure, fulfillment and deepest satisfaction. By
allowing God's healing Spirit to reverse our thinking from
selfishness to other-centeredness we find greater fulfillment and
satisfaction – the very opposite of what our selfishness leads us
to assume.
Sin has so warped our perceptions of
reality that in general everything our fallen nature assumes is true
is often opposite to real truth. Thus our fallen nature leads us to
believe we must take in order to have instead of the truth that in
passing along generously what we have received, that very choice
releases inherent life into our own being causing us to thrive.
Selfishness blinds us to the truth that
only in giving can we thrive. Selfishness reverses the life-giving
flow we were designed to enjoy thinking we have to get life for
ourselves rather than accepting it free of all coercion. We are
blinded to the inseparable nature of truths that if properly
understood would refute the assertions of the enemy leading us clamor
for life instead of resting in the flow of the River of Life. Some of
these truths include the reality that grace and truth are one and the
same, not competing concepts. Justice and mercy are actually one and
the same, not competing ideals. Agape, other-focused, serving love
actually opens the way to experience love, not a threat of depleting
us of life as we innately may assume.
Sin also leads us to ignore parts of
truth that then permits sin to retain its deceptive power over us. We
believe that if we give to others we will suffer loss ourselves. This
can be true if we are living outside the circuit of life as God
designed it. But God wants to liberate us from Satan's counterfeit
system where we take from others to satisfy ourselves. He wants to
bring us into harmony with the life-giving circuit of His design in
which we receive life and love in abundance so we have more than
enough to enhance and bless and satisfy others.
Yet all of this seems illogical so long
as we cling to the logic of selfishness which tells us there is not
enough to go around so we must make sure we have more than enough for
ourself before we grudgingly release anything to someone else. God's
generous love circuit appears illogical in our selfishness which is
why we must be given a new heart, a different mind and a generous
spirit before truth makes any sense to us.
In our fallen system of thinking the
underlying assumption about life is that I am responsible to make
sure I have enough of what I want for myself before considering the
needs or desires of others. This concept has a fatal flaw, for it
blinds us to the nature of the circuit of life as originally
designed. By inserting the selfish factor into the function of this
circuit we pay more attention to our own desires than the needs of
others. In turn this virus of selfishness works to infect those
around us causing increasing isolation, suspicion and disconnect from
the very circuit designed for our provision. In essence this
describes the system of unbelief about God's generosity, kindness and
faithfulness which is what fuels all our fears and compels us to seek
for alternative sources to provide us life and love.
One reason the very first instruction
from God given in the Ten Words on Mt. Sinai was to not have any
other gods before Him was to address this very problem. The inherent
purpose of any god of any kind is to be for us a source of something
we need or desire. Whether it be basic provisions required for
continued existence, for protection, pleasure or whatever, a god is
the source we rely on to bring us the things we want but cannot
produce ourselves yet we feel are needed for living.
With this understanding of the true
meaning of a god, it becomes easier to see the reason why God wants
us to know why He is the only One who has everything we need. All
other sources for life and provision are secondary by nature, and
although God has arranged for many avenues and channels through which
to bring life and love and blessing into our lives, we must remain
cognizant that everything originates with Him. In order to live in
harmony with this circuit of provision for us we need to make knowing
Him our highest priority and return directly to Him our praise and
appreciation for His generosity and goodness and life. Thus we may
stay properly oriented to live and thrive in the circuit of life and
love and provision that will bring true satisfaction, joy and peace.
Sin has so distorted our awareness of
this truth that we often perceive God as a threat to our existence
rather than the source of life and provision and love. As long as I
feel God is in any way a threat to my happiness or existence I will
be driven to seek alternative ways or sources to get what I
intuitively think I must have in order to thrive and stay alive.
Because of this I can elevate all kinds of experiences, people or
imagined deities to a higher priority than trusting that God is
faithful to provide all of my needs.
In this perverted mentality I will
believe that I have to discover on my own resources required to keep
me alive or give me pleasure and satisfaction. I become tempted to
exploit resources in order to get what I want for myself rather than
resting in the circuit of life provided by God that can bring me all
I need. I will manipulate, deceive, exploit and take by force from
others in order to supplement what I feel I must have. This system
inherently is debilitating to everything and everyone around me, yet
it deceives me into believing it is necessary for my survival. Thus
belief in the notion of survival of the fittest becomes the
fundamental paradigm by which I perceive reality rather than trusting
in a loving Father who always provides more than enough for everyone
generously and graciously.
Jesus came to challenge this deeply
entrenched paradigm. He revealed that trust in God's desire to
provide everything we need and more frees us to participate joyfully
in the circuit of life and delivers us from all our fears. This is
the kind of rest spoken of in Hebrews 4 where we are alerted to the
fact that we still have not embraced the kind of rest symbolized by
the seventh-day Sabbath of creation. We have confused the meaning of
the weekly Sabbath as well as the design for the circuit of life
because we are so confused by our fallen nature that blinds us to
God's love. This has been our reality ever since our first parents
corrupted the gene pool from which we born.
Before Adam and Eve embraced this
counterfeit system of living under Satan's lies about God, they lived
happily in selfless passionate love for each other and all around
them. But infection of Satan's insinuations about God caused them to
begin looking out for themselves first at any potential expense to
those around them. Thus Adam flips from grabbing that fruit from Eve
to join in her condition because he loves her so much he can't
imagine life without her, to offering her as the first potential
human sacrifice to a perceived offended deity coming to impose the
penalty of death for disobeying His orders. “She made me do it! If
someone is going to be killed, don't kill me – take her!”
This bizarre distortion of thinking and
perception about God and reality constitutes the real issue of sin
that has displayed itself in myriads of ways ever since. We now all
look for excuses to blame someone else for the results of our selfish
choices that bring problems to our existence or that make us feel
ashamed or afraid. We all react similarly to the way our first
parents acted as soon as that operating system took over their brains
causing them to see God as a threat instead of selfishness. From that
point on we have been trapped in brains that look for other gods to
fix the enormous vacuum left when we lost the only God who could fill
that emptiness and satisfy our deepest longings for love and life.
Now we are stuck with hearts that
malfunction while thinking it is the only way we can live. Fear that
God will hurt or shame or restrict our access to life leads us to do
similar things to our first parents. Inherently we cannot help but
reflect the nature of whatever god we imagine is in charge of us. We
were created as images of God to reflect Him and that inherent design
can never be altered. The of our malfunction lies in our distortions
about the kind of God above us and all those distortions are revealed
most clearly in the way we relate to others around us, especially our
enemies.
We now live with the legacy of the
confusion caused by the conflicting ideas found symbolically in the
Tree our first parents chose over the Tree of Life that kept us
connected in His circuit of life. We now naturally tend to exploit
others just as we were exploited by the diabolical prince of this
world. We now reflect his evil selfish nature instead of the
selfless, loving servant God revealed by Jesus.
So for example, when one finds
themselves looking lustfully at a woman imagining how much pleasure
they might be able to derive from having her under their control,
they are simply revealing the same spirit of exploitation that was
used against vulnerable humanity by the first great exploiter Satan.
When a woman in turn views someone as a threat and schemes to set
them up to expose them publicly in order to shame, humiliate or
punish them, she indulges in the same spirit of exploitation that
infected our first parents in the Garden.
This is not some theological diversion
to get us off the hook and avoid personal responsibility. Rather it
is the fundamental reason for our condition that would be inescapable
were it not for the supernatural intervention of God in the rescue
provided for us in Jesus. I see a different law in the members of
my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that
I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans
7:23-24). Without the remedy of divine nature – agape love itself –
infused into humanity and providing a new nature now available to
everyone through Jesus our Messiah, there would be no escape from our
fallen selfish passions that drive all of us toward self-destruction.
Any form of exploitation of any kind is
the result of the infection originally caused by Lucifer.
Exploitation is the essence of sin and is the most potent threat to
the perfect system of God's creation designed for complete
vulnerability and yet safe as long as all are willing to trust His
heart and live in love. Within that pure and holy environment where
all are willing to be transparent and vulnerable, pure joy and life
and love can thrive. All live in harmony with the great circuit of
love upon which the entire universe was designed to operate
perfectly. All receive life, love and provision in order to process
it and pass it along to others while at the same time directing
praise and gratitude to the One who is the Source of all provision.
This is the wonderful system of vulnerability where true happiness
thrives; and this is the design that was exploited by the great
deceiver and rebel, first in heaven and later on earth. This is the
very vulnerability of God that His greatest and most brilliant angel
thought to exploit which has wreaked havoc throughout the universe
with the infection of sin.
These two competing systems vying for
control of the universe: vulnerable love that produces joy or selfish
exploitation which induces death, are the only two options there are.
If we choose to continue in selfishness we will continue to engage in
exploitation in various ways. But doing so erodes and diminishes our
own capacity to live in God's family where vulnerability is fully
embraced. On the other hand, if we choose to believe that God is the
only source of all life and that He can be trusted to work everything
together for good in the long run; if we choose to believe He is
trustworthy enough to finish His plan to heal us from all
selfishness, pain and death, then we can enter the path of
restoration into harmony with God's original design and begin the
healing process to for recovery from all the damage sin has brought
to our minds and hearts and lives.
We do need to be aware that when we
choose life as God designed it for us, we instantly set ourselves up
for conflict with the spirits of all those remaining under the
influence of the exploitive kingdom of darkness and we become targets
for the exploitation they naturally practice. Indeed, all who
desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2
Timothy 3:12) To embrace Christ's kingdom puts us at odds with the
kingdom of darkness and enrages the evil one. But though we will
certainly suffer like Christ did for similar reasons, we must learn
to respond by letting the mind of Christ be in us who focused His
attention on joy whenever exploitation attempted to destroy His trust
in His Father. (see Philippians 2 and Hebrews 12.)
Unavoidably our internal concept of God
shapes all of our relationships, which is why it is so vital that we
first begin to grasp a better appreciation of the real truth about
the kind of God in charge of the universe before much of anything
else has much effector for our recovery. As long as we cling to
beliefs that God is vindictive, punishing, cruel or in any other way
uses the false principles of darkness and death, we set ourselves up
to reflect a false god in our own lives.
Our greatest need is to believe the
plain truth that God is only light and love and truth and in Him is
not the slightest bit of darkness, selfishness or deception. God is
only life-giving and any belief short of this fails to set us fully
free from the lying insinuations about Him that fuels the sin in our
lives. Thus at the center of deliverance from sin is not effort to
reform our behavior but rather a radical correction of our
perceptions of the nature of the God who is at the center of all
power.
To be set free to live in love and
freedom I must come to see God as one who embraces vulnerability
while choosing to love freely even through any amount of exploitation
brought against Him. Avoidance of vulnerability is not the answer for
escaping the problem of sin; embracing the God who embraces
vulnerability and defeats it through forgiveness and love is the only
effective answer. By immersing myself in the truth about this God who
loves me unconditionally I am then transformed to begin reflecting
His perfect love. I cannot escape the tenacious selfishness that
controls me by trying to suppress or overcome it through resisting
it; rather I am cured of selfishness only as I focus my attention
resolutely on all the evidence of God's passionate and faithful love
until that image of Him finally begins to emerge spontaneously from
the healed mirror of my own soul.
Living in the love circuit where I
receive in order to give means that instead of seeing others as
resources to exploit to enrich myself, I see them as damaged but
precious children of God needing the same salvaging and healing that
I need. Now all the world becomes the family I see God drawing back
into wholeness instead of competition for limited resources. As I
embrace the God who is limitless in His love and ability to provide
more than I could ever use, I can find the courage to share like
Jesus taught and live in the freedom that only comes when fear is
evaporated from a heart filled with His love.
As that love then flows through my
healing heart to others it can awaken strong desires in them to
experience similar healing and freedom. I can then become a source of
life, hope and blessing instead of a threat to exploit them for my
own cravings. God then is glorified and all who live trusting in His
love can be glorified with Him. This was the prayer of Jesus in the
upper room found in John 14-17 and is to be fulfilled more fully in
our time. This is what John saw that he described in his wonderful
letters near the end of the New Testament. And this is the life we
can embrace here and now.
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