Christ Actualization--The Second Force

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 NIV

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Are You Conscious of the Second Force?

Several years ago I was with Mary Jo’s family at a lake and her brother had a ski boat.  It was exciting for our family and the other cousins because it was for many of the kids the first time any of them had ever been in a boat and more pertinently, the first most of them had ever tried skiing.  I was excited to give it a try.  I had gone water skiing about fifteen years before and although it had been a struggle, I had gotten up on my skis and had a great time jumping the wake and bouncing along on the water.  Several kids tried and a number failed getting up on the skis the first time they tried.  Most of the adults had water skied before and although it might have been a while, they all got up, some even using just one ski.  I was one of the last to try and although I was a bit nervous, I was fairly confident I could rise up on the skis and cruise around the lake.  The boat circled around me as I waited in the water for the tow rope and then it passed near enough for me to grab it.  I leaned back, bent my knees, stuck my skis straight up toward the sun and waited for the boat to work its way into position to launch me up onto the surface of the water.  Many of Mary Jo’s sisters and brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews stood on shore watching and our kids were in the boat with Mary Jo waiting to see how I would do.  All of a sudden the boat lurched forward with groaning power, I stood upon the skis, my legs still bent a bit at the knees and I immediately toppled forward, my hands firmly grasping the tow rope handle as the boat dragged me with my mouth wide open through the lake.  Finally, the force of the water pushing against me drove the handle from my grip and I slid back into the water having swallowed what seemed like half the lake in my effort to get up on my skis.  Before any movies were ever developed with this theme, I thought about what it would have been like if instead of the overweight and clumsy body I possessed, my mind had been poured into the body of someone like James Bond.  No one would have been laughing at me flopping into the water like a breeching humpback whale.

Have you ever wished you could possess the abilities of someone else?  Perhaps you would have liked to have had the math skills of Albert Einstein, the writing ability of Charles Dickens, the grace of Simone Biles, the looks of Zach Efron or Beyoncé.  All of us could use from time to time a talent, personality trait or skill of someone else.  Yet it is not possible to take on the qualities of another person because we are limited to who we are.  In a sense, we are trapped within ourselves.   We are bound to who we are and the characteristics we possess…at least that is how it seems.  The Bible though tells us that there can be more to us than the limitations of self. That is why the concept of self-realization is not only restrictive and not very hopeful, it is irrational.  There is more to us that just us.

Before humanity came upon Jesus Christ, we were constrained to just who we were.  There were no talents that could be added to us, no one else could think within us to shape our ideas or decisions: we had no moral strength or integrity other than what we developed on our own.  This all changed when Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.  Jesus hinted at what the three days from Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday would accomplish when He promised, "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:5-7 NIV)  The Lord promised that the “Counselor” would be with us always.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— (John 14:16 NIV) What the Counselor would do for us is specified by Christ.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  (John 14:26 NIV)

The most profound change human personality can experience is what occurs when we are born again or as it also can be translated, “begotten from above”.  Jesus stated, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5 NIV)  In other words, it is impossible to be Christian unless a supernatural transformation occurs, described by Christ as being born of water and the Spirit.  Now what it means to be “born of water” has long been debated but it seems clear enough based on the symbolism of water in the Old Testament that it is an idiom our Lord used for cleansing from sin.  I must, if I am to enter the Kingdom of God, have my sin washed out of me and it is the work of the Holy Spirit through the death of Christ on the Cross that takes out of me my sin and makes me new.  It is only after the Spirit of God becomes a part of you and transforms you that you are Christian.  What triggers the transformation?  When in faith we put our trust in Jesus Christ crucified to save us from our sin, the work of God begins in us. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-16 NIV)

We see this phenomenon of the Spirt of God becoming a part of people described often in the book of Acts.  Just one example of the transforming work of having the Holy Spirit join with the personality of Christian people illustrates this.  After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31 NIV)  There was something different about these people who were filled with the Holy Spirit that was not them before.  They spoke boldly about God!  This was clearly something different about them.  With the Holy Spirit now a part of them, they were courageous in their evangelism.  In the book of Romans we discover another way the Holy Spirit alters the personality of Christians when He is a part of them.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:5 NIV)  The Holy Spirit puts into the personality of the Christian the love that God possesses.  Much like a daughter gains from her father or mother the innate ability to play musical instruments, so the “chromosome” of love comes to us from God when the Holy Spirit becomes part of us.  We don’t just have our capacity to love built in us but God’s also.  It does not just end there.  Christ gives us His very own peace when the Holy Spirit becomes a part of us.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14: 27 NIV)  We are just scratching the surface here.  If God is a part of who we are when we are born again, then there are an infinite number of possible qualities we gain from Him.  The Apostle Paul said that when he thought about the Philippian Christians, he did so not just out of his own affection for them but also because the affection of Christ was built in him too.  God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:8 NIV)

Consider just what is possible for any person who has been born again and has the Spirit of God a part of his or her personality!  We can forgive not just with our own capacity to forgive but also with God’s own ability.  We can be courageous, not just with our own bravery but also with the bravery God possesses. We can be calm and at peace in any circumstance, not just because we have a certain developed or innate ability to stay calm but also because we have now built in us the capacity of Christ to be at peace.  Even the mind of God is ours when the Spirit of God is a part of us.  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"   But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV)

Can you see what an inadequate and demeaning goal, self-realization is?  Why would I be interested at all in being all I can be when I can become all Christ and I can be?  It is like asking a ballerina to strive to become as graceful as one of the early prototype robots built fifty years ago.  It is like telling a nuclear physicist to try and become as competent in math as the first grader living next door.  Our goal must never be to try and become all we can be but all God built in us can be.  It is not self-actualization but Christ actualization that drives us forward.  Consider the example of Barnabas who sold land of his and gave the proceeds of the sale to the church.  This of course may have been his nest egg; the retirement he hoped would support him in his twilight years or it might have just been one piece of property among many.  It certainly seems like an extravagant gift and might have pushed him to the limits of his generosity to give it.

Let the full weight of this simple act sink in as you read the complete account of what happened.  After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:31-37 NIV)

If we are to reach our potential as people, we must never give in to the antiquated and insufficient goal of being all we can be.   With the Spirit of God as part of us, we can become as generous and kind, and loving and honest and insightful and good as God in us can be.  Consider this as we close.  As the personality of Christ works His way through us, we become the Kingdom of God moving about in practice.  When His love becomes our love, when His generosity becomes our generosity, when His courage becomes ours, we shall be as we let Christ have His way in us, the works of God wherever we go!  Now that is reaching our potential!

The Two Forces Driving Humanity

Ecclesiastes 2:10 NIV

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.  My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

What Matters Most To You?

This year I have been working as a substitute teacher.  I receive class assignments by going to a website that tracks my workdays on a calendar.  When a teacher makes a substitute teacher request, it pops up on my calendar and then I can decide if I want to accept the assignment or not.  Some are for half a day and other for six full hours.  Sometimes teachers request me personally but usually the assignments go out to all the pool of substitute teachers and the first of us to accept the job for the day gets it.  Recently I accepted a job working in a kindergarten class at a particular school but within an hour, I was removed from the job and the notice came to me that my services were no longer needed.  I was disappointed to hear this as you never know when a job will come available or even if one will.  A week later another kindergarten class assignment from the same school popped up and I quickly accepted the assignment but again, after a few hours, I was notified that my services were no longer needed.  I had heard that sometimes teachers post jobs and then remove them if a favorite substitute of theirs becomes available to take their class and I grew increasingly offended the more I thought about this.  I had never worked at the school that had these kindergarten assignments and so I was pretty certain the teachers there didn’t know me.  Did the teacher pull the assignments from me because I was a man?  It smacked of discrimination to me!  What also bothered me was that once a substitute teacher accepts an assignment for a certain day that person is locked into it and is not notified of other possible assignments for the same day.  One can decide to not take the assignment later but then that person can’t work that day for any other teachers.  If a teacher cancels an assignment too late, the substitute is prevented from accepting another job for the day.  I began to stew over this and I considered sending the teacher that pulled my assignment an email expressing my feelings about her doing so.  It felt like I was rejected and treated unfairly.  I wanted the teacher to know that I was not just a name on a list but a real person who did not like being rejected or considered not good enough for her class.  I counted; my needs were important and I deserved more respect.

Perhaps you too have felt rejected and wanted to make sure others knew you counted, that you ought to be appreciated.  You have been pushed aside or gone unnoticed.  Have you ever wanted to shout, “Look at me”?  “I can do the job!”  “I should get the promotion!”  “Love me too!”  “Pay attention to me!”  “Care about me!”  Maybe you feel that way now; that your hard work and creativity and sacrifice is not given the value it deserves.  You feel frustrated that you might never achieve your goal, never accomplish in life what you think you should.  You are at a dead end and it is maddening to consider that your life is unfulfilled and you may never reach your potential.  What should you do?  How does one respond to feeling boxed into a corner of lost dreams and anonymity?  Should you in some way “fight back” and reclaim your life?

A pillar of modern humanist psychology is the call for “self-realization”.  By humanist, I mean any treatment of psychology that does not view humanity mechanistically as if people are little more than machines.  Nearly everyone who sees people as really free and independent believes that a goal for all of us is “self-realization” or the very similar “self-actualization”.  It is held by nearly all that we ought to make it our goal in life to assert ourselves, to gain our place of prominence among others and fulfil our purpose.  Many Christian teachers believe these strivings are essential to having a good life.  In fact it is assumed by many that self-realization is God’s plan for us.  We do of course see examples of self-realization being practiced in the Bible; it is not just a modern phenomenon…one could say it goes as far back as Adam and Eve.

Let’s consider each of the three strivings that put together are known as self-realization.  The first, the urge to establish one’s worth is illustrated by King Hezekiah’s actions when representatives of the Babylonian government came to visit him.  Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses — the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil — his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. (2 Kings 20:13 NIV)  Most of us would say that there is nothing wrong with asserting ourselves.  We need to let others know who we are and what we have done.  In Hezekiah’s case, he simply pointed out how productive his work had been and the success he achieved.  Hezekiah extended his own reputation by giving the tour of his possessions but forgot something critical in doing so.  He did not gain his wealth on his own. 

A second component of self-realization is the push to gain prominence.  We all believe we should be given the opportunity to make something of ourselves and Aaron and Miriam were not exceptions to this.  The two were frustrated that Moses their younger brother, who was charged with leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land was not giving them enough say in the decisions being made.  The nation of Israel needed their leadership they believed and it offended them to not be more involved in how the nation was run.  Miriam and Aaron wanted Moses to show them respect by deferring more to them when he made decisions and directed the people.  Finally their frustration spilled out in the infamous complaint, "Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the Lord heard this. (Numbers 12:2 NIV)  Is this any different than trying to get a promotion you think you deserve, wanting your husband or wife to respect all you do for the family, being upset that you aren’t recommended for a teacher’s assistant position, getting frustrated for the lack of support you receive in the church motions you present, or being left off a committee because others in the club are move popular?   Who doesn’t want to be known for the good they have done and the insight they have?  The push to gain prominence is natural and normal.

A third component to self-realization is the common goal of wanting to fulfill one’s purpose.  Books have been written on this topic and many have decided this is our most important task in life, fulfilling our purpose.  If we look at Demas from this perspective, we can take exception with the Apostle Paul’s complaint about him.  Paul said of Demas,

“Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.” (2 Timothy 4:9-10 NIV)  No one wants to be accused of desertion but if you take Demas’s position in this, he was simply fulfilling his purpose.  Who knows why he left Paul?  Maybe his family needed him.  Perhaps he wanted to take up leadership in a church where his talents could be put to better use.  It might be that he had always wanted to be a lawyer and so he was following his dream.  Can we really fault Demas for wanting a change?  Perhaps Demas really did know what was best and he was upgrading the quality of his life.  Can that be criticized?

In every example described we have self-realization exhibited in real lives.  None of these people thought that what they were doing was wrong.  They in fact probably were congratulated by friends and perhaps also family members for making tough decisions to put their lives together.  Self-realization is reasonable and even celebrated yet it is not Christian and not even possible.  For those who decide to build their lives without God, self-realization is normal and natural.  The belief that we stand alone in a world that is sometimes for us and other times against us is growing in popularity but irrational.  The push for self-realization rests upon the belief that in the end it is just me and just you who must decide how we are to live and what we will do about the direction of our lives.  But what if we aren’t alone in this?  What if each of us is more than just one?

There is a declaration the Apostle Paul makes that is rarely taken as seriously as its importance to humanity warrants.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)  This conclusion that Paul draws and that we must consider if we are to fully think through who we are and what we are doing with our lives is that each of us is never independent.  Job, despite his misery, realized not pessimistically but realistically the part God plays in each life. Man's days are determined; you (God) have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. (Job 14:5 NIV)  It is impossible to be in charge of what we do with ourselves if God decides how long we shall live and what will come of our accomplishments.  The prophet Daniel told the Babylonian king Belshazzar that it did not matter what he hoped to get done, the Lord would not let him live until morning and the kingdom he so proudly ruled and worked to preserve would be pulled apart.  “…God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end…Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."  (Daniel 5:26-28 NIV)  The prophet Isaiah quoted God when he declared the situation each person faces, For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?  His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?  (Isaiah 14:27 NIV)

Whatever we have planned or look forward to getting done must take into account that how long we live is determined by God.  The writer of Ecclesiastes, whose wisdom is unmatched by those not named Christ or Paul, pointed out that no matter what we accomplish or how close we come to reaching our potential, the entirety of our accomplishments slip from our hands in the end and all we will be left with is our souls, the fate of which is determined by our Creator.  The myth of self-realization is as ludicrous as the belief that the moon is made of green cheese.  Every decision we make must take into account God and what He is doing with us.  The thought that is the most reasonable and rational at any moment is the one Paul offers.  “I am not my own.  I am bought with a price.”  Because this is so, self-realization is impossible.  As we shall see, God not only determines what will be the outcome of our lives, He is a part of every action we take and every thought we generate.  We don’t exist as just self.  There is more to us than that.  And we might add, “Thank God it is so!”

The Fullness of You...Touching

Mark 1:41 NIV

 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"

                                         Does It Matter Who Touches You?

More than thirty years ago Mary Jo and I started doing things together.  We went to movies, went out to eat, her family had me over to the house for Sunday dinners, we went to the New Orleans Jazz Fest, walked along the Lakefront, hung out in the French Quarter and played on the same volleyball team.  Although Mary Jo didn’t have a boyfriend and I didn’t have anyone I was dating, we had a friendship that was not in a sense romantic.  We had never kissed, we didn’t even hold hands.  Then after a year and a half of maintaining our relationship this way, we both started working at the same Christian camp in North Carolina.  Mary Jo had arrived a week before I did and so we both were happy to meet again after being apart.  My first afternoon there the two of us went hiking along a trail that went through the woods on the campus and to my complete surprise Mary Jo took my hand and held it as we walked.  It felt like electricity flew through my body.  We had never held hands before, not even when we prayed and I was stunned by the sensation of being touched by her.  On that day, touch, even as benign as holding a hand, initiated a chain of events that completely changed our lives.

Touch is perhaps the most powerful of all our senses as it is the only one that impacts the entire body.  As a result, touch is a dynamic force that fuels a wide range of emotions.  Even our use of the term “touch” in its metaphorical suggests an effect that is significant.  If you say that “she touched you” it implies something much deeper than the gathering of sensory information, it means that somehow the person impacted your heart….the center of who you are.  Are you comfortable being touched?  Do you like to touch others?  Do you find that certain people like it when you touch them?  How important is touch to the Church or even to the practice of Christianity?

There are reasons to mistrust the use of touch and the Bible gives several examples of how touch is misused.  Old and blind Isaac wanted to give a blessing from God to his oldest son Esau but the younger son stepped in without the father’s knowledge and pretended to be Esau.  He put lambskin on over his arms and neck so that when his father touched him, he would be tricked into believing he was the older and hairier brother.  Jacob got away with the ruse too and stole the blessing from his brother.  Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."  He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. (Genesis 27:22-23 NIV)  Both Isaac and the older brother were devastated when they discovered what Jacob had done.

Have you ever been fooled by someone’s touch?  You thought you were loved but you actually weren’t.  You believed the touch meant you could trust the person; assumed the touch would be good for you.  How many have been touched for evil reasons, corrupt reasons.  When Amnon touched his sister Tamar, it was because he lusted after her but had no love for her.  His touch destroyed the personality of Tamar and left her emotionally crippled. 

But he (Amnon) refused to listen to her (Tamar), and since he was stronger than she, he raped her. Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, "Get up and get out!"   "No!" she said to him. "Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me."  But he refused to listen to her...Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went…And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman. (2 Samuel 13:14-16, 19, 20b NIV)

In contrast, when Jesus touched, He healed.  His hands brought joy and comfort.  When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. (Luke 4:40 NIV)  Children were blessed by His touch.  And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:16 NIV)  The elderly were comforted by the feel of His hand.  When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."  Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.  (Luke 13:12-13 NIV)  Crowds thronged to Jesus, the people wanting to touch Him because of what they believed would happen if they did. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. (Matthew 14:35-36 NIV)

The Apostles, following Jesus lead also used touch to bless and change the lives of those they touched.  Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:17 NIV)  Even non-Apostles were instruments of God’s work by their use of touch.  Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."  Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. (Acts 9:17-19 NIV)  Touch became the way believers in Christ confirmed God’s calling to ministry and service.  In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: …While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.  (Acts 13:1-3 NIV)  Paul the Apostle especially used touch to bless and heal.  When Paul placed his hands on them (new Christians in Ephesus), the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:6 NIV)  Paul followed Jesus’ lead and let touch be the instrument though which God healed many.  There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably.  His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.  When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. (Acts 28:7-9 NIV)

Touch has been lost as a way to bring the love of our Savior to the world.  Many have been psychologically damaged by touch and are afraid of what it might do.  Others have lost their confidence in God to help them and aren’t interested in being touched by the Lord’s people.  Mostly though, Christians have stopped believing what God can do through them when they touch others.  We find in the book of Hebrews that touch is one of the rudimentary ways God uses His people to change lives.  It is “basic Christianity”.  Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And God permitting, we will do so. (Hebrews 6:1-3 NIV)

Let us not worry ourselves much about why Christians don’t use touch as instruments of God.  They have the Holy Spirit in them so as they gain experience as believers, they will gradually learn how to live with God as part of them.  A critical component of Christianity is touching people and believing that a supernatural work of the Lord will happen when doing so.  Recently I was stunned by how someone I touched through the Holy Spirit was healed by God.  Years ago the Lord told me to pray by touching a couple who for years had been childless.  In three months they called me to say that the next month they conceived.  We have no right to give up on our ability to touch people who need God’s help!  If God flows in you, He will flow out of you and your touch is what He wishes to use to bring comfort and help to the world.  Touch the weak, touch the broken, touch the proud and touch all who feel like they have lost.  Touch and God will touch through you.