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!
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