More Than Humanity 3: Strength From God

     We can't fight on our own. When we face temptation, when we run up against a choice to either live faithfully or fleshly, when those moments come and we fail, it's because we tried to do battle on our own strength. We're only human and so we lack the ability to succeed in a war against evil if for no other reason than evil is within us! We are born of shadow and will run from the light given the slightest chance. Thanks to Jesus' redemptive work we aren't “cured” from sin but brought from death to life; not sick men made better but dead men made alive. We need God to get us through those difficult moments.

     Our example in this, like in all things, is Jesus. We see in the pages of scripture that while He was on earth He limited Himself. He did not exercise the full range of His Godhood so as to be a proper example and a fit sacrifice. When we see Jesus perform miracles, we often see Him praying before hand asking for these miracles from the Father. Jesus, just like we must do, sought the Father and relied on the Spirit to do what He needed to do. The primary example for our discussion today is Jesus temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-10).

     The devil appears and presents Jesus with several scenarios, different forms or avenues of temptation designed to push Jesus away into sin. It's quite fascinating that no where does Jesus simply tell satan to bugger off or even cast Him away; this of course is well within His power and authority as a part of the God-head. What Jesus does do is use the Word of God. Each time He is presented with a temptation He replies with a piece of Scripture. Jesus knew in that time that no lies can supplant the pure truth of God and that we find that truth in the Word given to us. Again, He didn't simply cast satan away but used the same resources we have available to us: the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

     We need to learn, to train ourselves to go to God and His word when we are under temptation. More than that we need to ask God to keep us aware of what's going on around us, to make us sensitive to temptation so that we recognize it when it rears its ugly head. If we continue to rely on our own strength we will never see anything more than failure. We were dead before, and dead men cannot fight a war; if we cut ourselves off from that which makes us alive in the first place what do we think will happen?

More than Humanity Part 2: A Little Bit Above

     Where does humanity stand in the whole of creation? More importantly, how do we compare to the spiritual realm? We humans occupy a unique place in the world of matter, in that we also occupy a place in the realm of the spirit. Animals, plants, objects; none of these things have a spiritual component. What makes us different is that God made us a bit like Himself, namely a threefold being. We are body, soul, and spirit (debates about the differences or lack there-off between soul and spirit aside).

     All of what we see, and most of what we concern ourselves with is this physical form. This isn't terribly surprising as it is the point of most of our conflict. We are concerned with getting sick or getting injured, worried about future weakness as age takes it's toll and of course we're all a little concerned about death. This body is like a screaming baby, perhaps not the most pressing concern, but the most noisy and what draws our attention most of the time. Humanists would have us believe that this flesh is all there is, that we occupy no higher plane. One wonders though, if that were the case, why all the philosophical thought in the world? How did we get the idea of anything more if there isn't anything more? How are we able even to have thought that is self-aware if all we are is a meat-machine?

     What makes us different is that we are more than mere humanity. What I mean by that is we aren't just meat-machines we are “semi-transcendent.” I used to believe the old phrase “I'm a soul in a body not a body with a soul,” and that sounds good and all but it's not really accurate. In actuality we are physical beings with souls, that combination is what we are; which explains why we will have bodies in eternity. You cannot divorce yourself from your soul and still be really alive, but you also can't say that you are only physical. Our semi-transcendence means that we are slightly above the physical realm. We are not angels so we are not removed from this world, but we aren't animals either. We have a perspective that allows us to see beyond what we see. It is this state that allows for our sentients, that allows us to be self-aware.

     This state of being is a blessing and a burden. Though we are fallen from grace thanks to our sin, our semi-transcendence gives us a sense of the eternal, of the “more than this.” This is a part of that “God-shaped hole” we all have in our hearts. Though we are separated from God, we were created to be more than just animals and so we strain against the bonds of our sin and this material world. We yearn for more than just rocks and air and flesh. It is this desire, this unfulfilled and indefinable pull that ultimately leads many to God. To many the party line of molecules to man just doesn't cut it because they know that there is something more, something beyond what they see and touch and taste.

     Man is an interesting creature, made to be more than just skin and bones. God made us a little like Him, not deity, but stamped with the image of God. We do a disservice to ourselves and our creator when we attempt to remove or ignore the part of ourselves that moves beyond what we can study in a lab or see on the street.

“Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

(Genesis 1:26-27)

More Than Humanity: A Higher Perspective

     Society all around us is fractured, some would say failing. Our husbands and fathers have become lazy buffoons ripe for parody and mockery. Our wives and mothers are overworked, cynical and depressed; unwilling to fully trust their men and doubtful that they should at all. Our children and teens are jaded, rebellious, narcissistic, and corrupt; unable or unwilling to see past their smart-phones or the opinions of their peers. And in between them all we have an army of the young and unwed, obsessed with themselves and their desires, oblivious to any higher calling and suspicious of anything that claims to be true. These people, our people, need help. This world needs something more than what we see.

     At the heart of this problem is, of course, sin. Mankind will always desire to do what satisfies the flesh rather than what is truly good; all we need is the chance. Every one of us has the potential to be the abusive husband or the cheating wife or rebellious child or whatever. We sin, not just because we have to, but because we want to. The reason these ills seem “more” prevalent now is that we have simply given people the opportunity to sin in greater amounts and more freely than ever before. The proposal and rapid acceptance of naturalistic evolution and the advent of “higher criticism” have made it easier and easier to reject God and His Word. We have “science” telling us that God didn't create and so we can ignore the arguments the Bible makes without even reading them. Those who do read them, find that the critics tear them apart so much as make them seem to lose all meaning.

     We once lived in a society -in a world- where you had no choice but to at least consider the possibility of God. Creation screamed at you, the preacher spoke to you, the Spirit whispered to you, and all the world tried to be “good people.” Things are different now aren't they? Creation has been muzzled and painted over with a landscape of death and change, the preacher has been compromised and spends more time building his flock than actually teaching them (not to mention that virtually no one goes to listen anymore but those who already believe), and all the world sings to the tune of “just follow your heart.” Never mind that God tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked...” Those who we trust with leadership have put forth an immense amount of effort to drive our view earthward, away from the sky and the Son.

     We need to recapture eternity. Our lack of perspective has given people the means they need to pursue their sins. Their is no 'ever-after' so find all the joy you can today, right? There's no judge to make the rules so you decide how to play the game, it's your game after all isn't it? No one made us this way, so we can be whatever we want to be and be with whoever we want to be with. There is no right and wrong only mine and yours. If all we have to look at is the ground around us, is it any surprise that our worldviews have gotten so muddy? When God is on His throne and in His proper place in our minds, we see things as they should be. Our actions have consequence and meaning because they will echo in eternity, who we are matters because He has fashioned us for a purpose, and what we do matters because reality reflects the very nature of its Creator.

     God is more than just a crutch for hard times. He is more than just a nice thought on holidays or a cultural hold-over. God is the very thing that gives our lives meaning and worth. If there is no God then there is no law-giver for reality. If there is no law-giver then there is no objective law by which to differentiate good and evil. If there is no good and no evil then nothing we do can rightfully be condemned. If we make the rules then every argument is simply a matter of survival of the fittest and our future will be nothing but cannibalism, as we devour each other in our effort to have things our own way.