The secret of the rich, full, and contented
life is always in the simple living of life. Since there is mystery in
the living of that life, man rarely, if ever, experiences the life he so
desperately desires. A quick, honest look at one’s existence for most
people reveals a life that falls far short of the expectations of the
continual good life. Regardless of his efforts, man always seems to fall
short of perfection--the complete life.
Failing to grasp the truth of living in God’s grace, man spends his
days in an abnormal existence. This abnormality (experiencing life less
than God intended it to be) is so consistent that man has come to accept
it as the norm. This false norm has become so entrenched in man’s mind
that it prohibits him from rising above the all-too-frequent hells of
his life. Having never experienced the rich, full and good life of God’s
grace, man fails to perceive the hell he is experiencing until it is too
late.
Unfortunately, most people, including most modern Christians, struggle
in life because they never get past the simple, yet profound, challenge
of grace and its revelation. Grace seems to be consistently bestowed in
vain (2 Cor. 6:1) or is frustrated (Gal. 2:21). Most believers
experience the frustration of grace by their own attempt to live for God
(attempting to live in and through the deeds of their lives) rather than
to live in God (living in harmony with the outworking of grace that
produces the deeds of their lives). They are their own worst enemy.
For man to experience the life he desires, he must be drawn from behind
the barriers he has created for self preservation. Fearing rejection, he
has hidden the real essence of himself. He has entered into
relationships, but usually only for his perceived needs. He seldom, if
ever, experiences the perfecting supernatural relationship of love. He
does not understand the connections of life.
Since all men are social creatures, what it means to be a human being is
found only in the expression of the interaction of at least two people.
An individual actually comes to know and to understand himself only as
he sees himself reflected in the lives of others. The reflections that
come back to him from the people with whom he is interacting are the
sole basis for his sense of identity.
With his personal identity at stake, the right relationship is of the
utmost importance if the good life is to be experienced. Unfortunately,
natural man consistently fails to experience the relationship of love
that gives a sense of wholesomeness. Unless his relationships get past
the basic pleasure and utility needs, he will never experience the
acceptance, approval, and affection he so desperately desires.
There is mystery in experiencing the connections of life. For the good
life can never be experienced if the individuals of a relationship live
only unto themselves. For love to be experienced, the participants of
the relationship must die to their selfish desires of individuality. As
Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone." Living unto one’s self using others to attempt
to fulfill a perceived need always produces aloneness.
In the mysteries of baptism lie the secret of experiencing the good
life. Wondrously, the exciting, abundant life does not come from
aggressively pursuing life. It occurs in not resisting being taken to
the end of oneself in order that new life might be raised out of the
dying. Creation tells this same story over and over again: spring comes
out of winter, sunrise comes out of midnight, and the rose comes out of
the planting. Life always comes out of death.
As the providence of God’s grace takes each person to the seed time of
life, Jesus must become the essence of the person’s life. For only
Jesus will say in those planting times, "Now is my soul troubled;
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause
came I unto this hour" (John 12:27). Every other person, when faced
with this baptism unto death, will try to control the times and the
seasons of harvest. Attempting to take control of circumstances, the
person participates in the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. The glory of the harvest, however, comes only in the innocence
of the mind, only when the mind of the person is controlled by Jesus.
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