8/28/2020
Our world is full of conflict, disparity, anxiety and depression. It is divided by religion, politics, financial competition, and competition over limited resources. Our educational systems are full of false teachings and attempts to control the minds of our youth. A majority of people live lives of quiet desperation hoping to pack as much pleasure and stuff they can into a very short life span.
Most of our lives and decisions are heavily influenced from our external circumstances…where we can live, where we can travel, where we can go to school or work. Most grow up conforming to the system(s) they were born into. A few people escape their original boundaries. A few have strong senses of adventure that takes them to new places and experiences that most will never have. Yet, one of my favorite sayings in life has been “wherever you go, there you are”. We can pursue new lives, new places and experiences…and I have done a lot of that in my lifetime…but the reality is that our lives are still limited by our “selves”. There are some limitations and realities we cannot escape from…even if we got to the moon or further away from our current realities.
The fundamental question for most of us is “what is the purpose of our lives?”. What do we want to accomplish or become? While most people probably have no clear answer for that question, it is a nagging question nevertheless. For the lack of purpose or meaning, our lives are empty and worthless. What good are we?
My discovery has been that our fundamental problem in life is spiritual. Our world is full of religions, philosophies and mental exercises towards discovering God and meaning, yet for most the answers come up wanting or void.
For most people, their spirits are squashed or suffocated starting at infancy. Parents and authorities in our lives are imperfect humans and can be abusive. Abuse in the human experience is a learned behavior that is handed down multiple generations. Abuse isn’t just physical. The most damaging abuse of people can be emotional and/or psychological. Spewing hate and negativity, either in general or specifically at someone in our lives, can have much longer lasting effects than physical abuse.
We see it every day in our lives. The negativity, personal attacks, peer pressure, authoritarian controls whether from parents and family or our institutions of religion or governance. The programming and abuse snuffs the life out of children at a very early age and thus we see generation after generation of hopeless, worthless, and loveless lives trudging along each painful day of their existence.
The fastest growing philosophy or religion of today is “secularism”. More people are searching for reality in intellect and physical realms of existence rather than in pursuits of morality and reason based on a divine and supreme force behind our lives. We are now programmed to look for meaning and reason purely in science and that which we can reason and understand intellectually. Man has come so far in knowledge, science, and technology, yet there is so much we still can’t explain about the origins and spiritual nature of man. Many of us have given up trying to explain the mysteries and unpredictability of nature and nature’s God. We work hard to disavow miracles or historic records of unnatural, miraculous occurrences in the world and we believe scientist’s theories and conjectures more than the writings and wisdom of ages past that are revealed to us in “Holy Books”.
The bottom line decision each person makes in life, no matter where they are or where they come from, is what they “believe in”. Every human has presuppositions that are both innate in their DNA and learned behaviors and beliefs from their socialization. There comes a point in each person’s life where they accept what they were told, or they push beyond for that which is real and unique for them.
One of the most impactful books we read in our youth was “A Pilgrim’s Progress”, a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. This is a classic story (which simple summary can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress ) of the meaning and process of living that lies before us. The allegory basically presumes that all of us are burdened down by other people’s beliefs, rules and identity “boxes” that define who and what we are before we have even begun our own journeys through life. The main difference between the main character “Christian” and all his family and friends is that he is willing to take on the struggle to get rid of the burdens he is carrying in his life…his recognition of sin and darkness that is keeping him from realizing the truth and meaning of his existence. In order to “progress”, he has to leave his family and friends behind in order to discover the truth and deliverance from his physical and spiritual burdens he carries. He doesn’t blame others for his condition, but he must face his condition independently. It is a magical story that even children can understand as it pertains to life’s meaning.
Most all “pilgrims” in life face certain decision points in their lives on what they will do in response to truth that blocks their path at various times. All of us are under achievers when it comes to experiencing and understanding our spiritual lives. Most people either refuse to deal with the “unknown”, or they very quickly submit to society’s version and direction of what they should believe and who they should identify with.
It may be a mystery to us on why so few humans come into real faith and confidence in their spiritual understanding of life, yet the Bible and Pilgrims Progress are very clear on the why and how of that question. God is the author and finisher of our lives. He has created us with huge potential to know and understand him as master of the universe. Unfortunately, we have evolved for millennia into a human species that deems itself the master of the universe and not needing our creator. We have equated ourselves as equal to Him which has caused a breach in the relationship and knowledge of Him who made us. This is called Sin and the condition of “fallen man” who was originally created to be greater than the Angels of heaven. We now find ourselves living for a few millennia in this drawn out dramatic battle between good and evil caused by our free will choice of disobeying God.
Most educated humans of today dismiss the Biblical concepts of “Heaven and Hell”, good and evil, or the war between God and the Devil. Surely religions have bastardized these concepts to the point where it IS hard to believe man’s interpretations of these concepts or statements. We are always interpreting and thinking of spiritual concepts from a human, physical perspective. The spiritual quotients in most of us are so minute and inconsequential, we have almost zero capability to understand or accept the meaning of what God is revealing to us. Yet, God has called many of us out of our blind, inconsequential existences to begin seeing the revelation of God’s spirit in THIS lifetime. We now see through a glass darkly, but yet we see enough when we open our spiritual eyes to recognize the love and purpose of a God who loves us, and a Savior sent to this earth to die in our place for our sins and those of all our forefathers. For those to whom Christ is revealed, it is a simple decision of yes or no that we accept living under this grace and continue pursuing the “Pilgrim’s Progress” our lives were meant to be about.
It is our experience and thinking that life is not about arriving at any one point in the future. It is purely and simply about pursuing a relationship with our creator with increased enlightenment and hope of eternal life lived in the presence of God, His son Jesus, and his Holy Spirit that dwells within us. That Spirit and the fruits of it are the only visible, rational proof of God’s power and existence within us, and it affects one way or another all the relationships in our lives.
Spirit and faith are not about religion, church, or orthodoxies. Sure, man can find meaning and instruction within those structures or institutions, but for most of us that have become spiritually alive it has taken a personal point of decision and understanding of his plan and calling for our lives. It is the Pilgrim’s challenge to work at releasing ourselves from the bondage and burden of sin…and even that is not something we can do for ourselves. God MUST help us do what we cannot do for ourselves, but he does not force his help on us in most cases, and it is a process of living for most…not a one time zap of reality or knowledge. It takes our whole lives to grow to a full spiritual understanding of what God wants for our lives. He allows us to go at our own speeds and each of our “travels” are unique and different from anyone else’s. That is the beauty of life lived spiritually versus only in the temporal secular world.
Anyone who knows true people of faith and huge spiritual lives will see God revealing himself through them and the rest of his creation. From the beginning at our births, we innately know right from wrong. We are innately dependent on our mothers and fathers for survival and to learn the meaning of life. Unfortunately, most of us are not born of spiritually alive parents. Most of us are born into bondage of sinful patterns and beliefs not of God. We aren’t born racists, murderers, or thieves. We are not born haters, but unfortunately, the spirit of evil is very quick to take its hold in our lives through learned behaviors and surrounded by evil or false spirits. At some point in life it takes a spiritual renewal…a rebirth as many call it…for us to live and experience our spiritual lives.
So our premise is, most every problem we have in life is spiritual in nature. Being part of the race of fallen man may not be “our fault”, but not doing something about it when revealed to us is.
The main problems in our world today are not physical or even psychological. Man’s main handicap is “spiritual”. Until we pursue our spiritual freedom and full understanding like the pilgrim Christian did…we will continue to be stuck with the darkness and evil that suffocates our lives and spirits. We will not begin to understand love as it is truly intended to be experienced in our lives, and we for sure will lack the hope and faith that brings the greatest meaning to a life well lived and connected to the spirit of our Creator