Mankind seems to be caught on a perpetual
merry-go-round. The piped music plays as we hold on to the continuous up
and down motion. Finally, we realize when all is said and done, we have
just been going around in circles.
One does not have to look very far to recognize that something is amiss
in the world. From the catastrophic events of natural disasters to the
personal turmoil of the individual, it seems, at best, people must put
forth tremendous effort merely to survive. Even with the technological
advances of modern man, survival is still the primary issue of living.
Man, with seemingly great creativity, will forge ahead to catch his moment
in the sun, only to find the moment lacking and briefly gone. Often as
man nears the top of his quested summit, an event, a figure out of the
night plunges him back to the valley to begin, once again, his endless
search for meaning and life. Something seems to be flawed in the very
fiber of the existence of man.
If Christianity is abundant life, why does it seem that so many
Christians actually do not reign in life? Also, if ". . . the gates
of hell shall not prevail against [the Church]" (Matt. 16:18),
why do so many local churches actually struggle to stay alive. Although
Christians are to be "Strengthened with all might, according to
his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness
. . ." (Col. 1:11), the characteristic of "all patience and
longsuffering with joyfulness" definitely is not evident in the
life of most believers.
Circumstances seem to dictate to most Christians and local churches the
quality of life they experience--just as they do to the heathen or
secular organizations. The reality of these statements is bad news! What
many Christians, many local churches, and in many cases the visible
Church as a whole has done is turned the good news of life in the
Creator into the bad news of life in the creation.
The faulty concept that life itself can exist in the creation has as its
foundation the awakening of the created to itself. Creation only has
life in its oneness with the Creator. Paul, through the workings of the
Holy Spirit, revealed that ". . . it pleased the Father that in him
[the Son of God] should all fullness dwell" (Col. 1:19). All that is
exists in and through the Son of God: ". . . all things were
created by him and for him: and he is before all things and by him all
things consist" (Col. 1:16,17).
When the events of the Creation materialized, creation had life because
it existed in God and God in it. This is not to say that God became
creation and creation became God. The distinctiveness of the Creator and
creation must always be maintained. It is idolatry to do otherwise
(see Exod. 20:3-5). It is to say, however, although God, as distinct Creator, and
that which God produced, as distinct creation, are two separate
entities,
they, nevertheless, exist in sublime oneness. The life that is in the Creator
becomes the life of the creation.
Somewhere along the line of man’s existence, he began to perceive the
experience of living as if it were in his own life. Man began to glory in
the life that was in him as if it were his life. Instead of keeping his
distinctiveness in the oneness with God, he awoke to the distinctiveness
of himself. The awakening of man to the identity of himself separated
man from the essence of life. Man's quest for life in himself actually
brought death in his life.
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