H,
I am starting to think that
we may have got this whole thing wrong. If we could imagine our spiritual life
as a journey from infancy to childhood and on to full maturity while adding the
necessary context of eternity, then we might begin to see our problems as just
part of a growing up phase. And what if all life on earth is just our infancy?
What if we grew out of skin and bones and into soul and spirit so we could
begin to approach eternity in that real “new body” unbound by space or time or
gravity or our childish wants and desires?
If we are but babies in this
present state then the emphasis will be on our ability to be like all true
infants are: helpless. I got around to this sort of thinking because we have
been learning the admonition of being helpless before God over the past few
years and that depth still seems untapped. We have been trying to get ourselves
together while He is actively engaged in pulling our present life apart.
There is no guile or
malicious intent when this happens because we have to take it all in the
context of eternity. We cannot read our own intentions and values into the
God-life. We have not been deceived. We were told we are here to lose our life
as we know it. We are told the world is upside down. We are told that this is
not the original plan and the children of God have not yet manifested. We are
told there is a crowd of witnesses waiting for our ascension, our earthly
death, because there is no full glory in this physical body. More than words,
God showed it in life on earth. His life on earth was reduced to three decades
and three years of ministry. There was a lot of silence and a lot of depth. This
was the life that was to define life on earth for generations. It did not have
the heroic swing at things we get from false stories of how to be men. It was
one of giving up everything only because your father told you to. It was one of
being helpless before God.
Are we not to go and do
likewise?