If you are a
Christian,, (or just want to know God better), and honest enough with yourself
to admit you don't have it all together yet, this article has something for
you. Like me, I'm sure you struggle at
times with allowing the spirit part of your being to become greater, and the
physical taking a lesser role in the soul. Our soul is the intersection of two
distinctly different realms; the spiritual (supernatural) and physical
(natural). Our personhood is designed
by our Creator for these two realms to work together to make the journey of
life more complete and successful.
However, many of us
spend a significant portion of our lives in "brokenness." .
First of all, we are all born into a broken world, so we are born
broken. The spirit part of our being is
made alive when we believe in Jesus.
Following Jesus begins a process of change in our soul, whereby the
spirit part of our being should influence the physical part in greater and
greater measures. The process is given
terms like transformation, sanctification, healing, and inner person
change.
But sometimes this
process of change becomes very difficult.
I have found in my personal journey that the simpler I can make things,
the easier the journey becomes. Volumes
have been written about each of the following four difficulties, but hopefully
here are some thoughts about each you find helpful in the direction of
simplifying. Quality of life is determined by how well these four factors are
navigated.
1. Sin
Sin is an ugly word. Whether you call it transgression, wrong doing,
offense, or rebellion against God, sin
is the ugliest barrier that keeps us from experiencing connection to God. We are created for eternal connection, but
sin created a disconnect. God sent his
one and only son Jesus into the world so that whoever believes in him is saved
from the eternal damnation (see John 3:16).
For those who believe, life on earth is a constant process of change to
be governing more and more each day by the Holy Spirit whom Jesus announced
when his work on earth was completed.
The Holy Spirit works with our personal spirit and soul to accomplish
this change through repentance and forgiveness (see other blog posts for more
on that).
All sin offends
God. There is no such thing as
"big sin" and "little sin." There is, however,
obvious and not-so-obvious, sin.
The Bible calls the devil the "father of lies." Deception is a key factor we'll talk more
about a little further down. Even the
most discerning people sometimes have difficulty allowing hidden heart issues
to be exposed. Jesus consistently
through his teaching identified the heart as the source of sin. The contents of our heart determines our
actions (good or bad), and people around us see our actions and not our
heart. Although our actions cause us to
appear guilty, when we offend, it is God who we offend the most (because of our
resistant heart condition).
Many definitions for
sin have surfaced, but a simple way to discover it is anything within our being
that resists God. It's not a sin to
have a bad thought. It's sin to grow
(harbor, explore, expand, etc.) bad thoughts.
A bad thought is any thought that condemns yourself, God, or another
human being. Bad thoughts produce bad
feelings and attitudes of heart, which produce bad actions. When we accept Jesus as the solution for our
brokenness, we agree to allow God to break down walls our resistance piece by
piece. He then reshapes our parts so
they fit together as a better-functioning "whole" person.
2. Legitimate Unmet Needs
In crisis situations
meeting immediate physical and emotional needs is of primary importance.
However, in the day-to-day physical world, too much "stuff" can
create distraction. A TV or the latest
technology device is not a "need."
Getting by with less stuff simplifies life. So too in our psychological and
emotional world, expectations that are set too high will set us up for
deeper disappointment. For example,
it's okay to expect people to treat you with respect and dignity. When you feel like you are treated without
respect and love, taking the hurt to the Lord and asking him to fill your need
for love and respect may be the answer.
Depending on the relationship, this need may indicate more work to be
done in communication and acceptance. A
spouse, for example, though no spouse is perfect, should be providing for needs
of love and respect at the deepest level possible in a human relationship. Working things through to have legitimate
needs met is very important.
3. False Beliefs
The more whole we
become, the more free we are to be who we were created to be. Believing falsehood is an obstacle to
freedom. Jesus declared, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free” (John 8:31-32). Many people
quote the second sentence and conclude that knowing the truth sets a person
free. Knowing truth does not necessarily
mean you believe truth. In the verse
quoted above, the word "then" makes it only true when the preceding
condition is true. Being a disciple of
Christ, as evidenced by holding to his teaching, is the Truth that sets a
person free. Mentally agreeing with
Christ's teaching isn't enough to overcome engrained patterns of bad thought
and destructive habits.
Practicing
Christ's teaching is the measuring stick for belief. Jesus simplified the ten commandments into two. Jesus said, "‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This
is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’" (Matthew
22:37-39). Loving God with your whole
being and showing it by loving yourself and other people is the core of
Christ's teaching. To the degree we hold
to this truth, we demonstrate that we really believe it. Love (acting in the best interest of
another) is a solution to removing barriers.
The problem is, the broken world we grow up in, forms our
core belief system with bits and pieces of Christ's truth, at best. Our default natural condition forms beliefs
about God, ourselves, and other people which are false (and unloving). Chief of these false beliefs is that we can
decide for ourselves which beliefs are true or not (good or evil), and we don't
need God's help to decide. We also
conclude things like "people don't like us if they don't give us what we
want," and "I'm not worthy of love" if someone criticizes
something we do. Most of these beliefs
come from our parents (or primary caretakers), but we cannot blame them for how
we behave as a result of adopting false beliefs.
Correcting our
misperceptions caused by believing things not true, is a bit like putting on
new glasses with new prescription lenses for better eyesight. We may still have "blind spots"
and not see perfectly. Our glasses
still become dirty (creating distortions) and need regular cleaning. But the pair of lenses is the tool we need
to focus our gaze on our surroundings.
The tool we need for focusing on Truth is the Bible. It is called God's Word because it is the
final word. The Bible is the recorded
history of God's people living out the combination of the natural and
supernatural realm (see also Hebrews 4:12).
It is the lenses through which all our beliefs need to be filtered for
complete vision.
4. Psychological Pain
The two distinct
categories of pain I wish to mention here are: self inflicted pain, and pain
inflicted by others. Self inflicted
pain means your own personal sin, unmet needs, and/ or false beliefs are the
primary source. The most common types
of feelings of pain are rejection and shame.
Sin creates guilt for behavior which can be corrected. Guilt then is a positive motivator. Same on the other hand, is based on a false
sense of guilt and has no solution.
Guilt says, "I did bad," whereas shame says, "I AM
bad." Shame causes rejection of
self and the God who created the self.
Self-rejections fuels bitterness, resentment, and blame in the deepest
part of your core being.
The pain of shame can
be very hard to identify, but this obstacle is common in every human
being. Shame is impossible to resolve
without finding the source where a person has rejected self. Remember, resisting God is sin. Resisting who God made you to be is
resisting God. Dissatisfaction,
discontent, and rebellion against who God made you as a person, is an offense
against God. So, self inflicted pain
may require repentance and forgiveness to become free and return to
wholeness.
Pain inflicted by
others causes different kinds of issues.
This is emotional damage caused by abuse, violence, traumatic injury, or
some type of injustice for which a reason cannot be explained. Injustice is part of our broken world, but
our broken soul has no way to justify it.
Jesus came not only to save the world from sin, but to heal the world
from the consequences of sin (see Isaiah 53 and 61). Jesus can heal the broken heart caused by injustice.
In summary, God does
not expect you to remove these four barriers before you can have his
favor. In fact, he implores us to come
to him for help on the journey. He
says, "Come to me .... and I will give you rest" (see Matthew
11:28-30) ... rest from trying to
perform your own way around these barriers.
So, I sometimes ask, "Why is it so hard to make/ keep things
simple?" I haven't come up with a
good answer, but I know the enemy of our soul wants nothing more than to have
us believe the way to God is about working instead of resting.
God is not accessed
through religion, but through relationship.
Religion can become a barrier of its own that hinders a relationship with God. Religion can encapsulate all four of the barriers listed
above.
A simple cry of the Psalmist heart is,
"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" (Psalm 139:23-24).
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).
May
this be our heart's cry to God. I can
speak from my experience that as I surrender more of my heart to God's search
light, I encounter less resistance from these barriers.
If
you are facing struggles you feel are overwhelming you., seek out the help of a
counselor. If I can assist you, drop me
a line. I tell people, "I'm not a medical doctor, but I am a
heart specialist." You can also
check out some of the other articles on the blog site to see how to practically
walk out the inner person change for successful living.
I end with a link to a
song. This song meant a lot to me
decades ago when I was beginning my journey, and I still find it's simple
message inspiring today. The song is
"He Loves You" by 2nd Chapter of Acts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ksIsp58pg
by Ed Hersh, BnB Healing Ministry
