|
Every created entity came
into being when the Spirit of life quickened (enlivened) it into
existence. Living life, however, is not a one time fix. God does not
bestow life upon man and then walk away to see what man will do with his
new found existence.
Since only God is life, creation has to experience God continually to
continue to experience life. Remove the Spirit of life from the body
that is experiencing life and the body soon decays into the nothingness
of its original dust. Since the Son of God is "the true Light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9),
every man experiences life because he is lighted continually or
experiences God continually.
The problem is not that man does not experience God, for to live is to
experience God. The problem is man does not know, or worse, refuses to
honor God for his life. The ignorant and foolish man states that God is
not the measure and the life of all things, he, himself, is.
Although all men continually experience and live their life according to
the outworking of the will of God, man often finds himself in opposition
to that will in the world of his imagination. The will of God is still
being done, for no man can change the sovereignty of God (Rom. 9:19,20),
but in the mind of man, the make believe world of his fantasies, he
believes he controls his own life. God still produces the life from
heaven, but because man is in his mind he experiences the hells of his
own created world--his imaginations.
Man begins his journey to this chamber of death and hell with the
illusion that he can (by the power of his choice) decide what is good
and what is evil. He believes he can control the times and the seasons
of life. The first illusion of man is always the belief that he can make
life happen himself.
The consequences of this illusion produce the reality that although he
is in control of his life there is something missing. No matter what he
chooses to do, for some reason the sense of fulfillment or completeness
does not occur. He begins to live by playing roles, hiding the real self
of what he has become, and readily blaming others for his misery.
The consequences of this first illusion should be sufficient to cause
him to cry out to God for his salvation. The pain and the agony of no
meaningful, lasting relationships should bring him back to God. But, it
does not. For there is something within man that refuses to give up the
control he perceives he has.
He knows something is wrong, but to fix the fault of the first illusion,
he creates a second illusion. He begins to believe that he can take the
things of God (although he gives no credit to God for them) and by his
choices and efforts make the good life occur. He believes that he can
mix the grace of God (which produces all things in the world) and the
laws of man (the attempt to do as he thinks he should) and produce or
force the issues that should exist between people.
He now lives in the illusion that he can force relationships to occur.
He craves meaningful relationships, as he understands them, and he
attempts to make them happen. He will either create a false world of
illusions about himself to make himself something he is not. Or,
selfishly scheme interactions to get what he thinks he needs from the
other person. The end result is the same--corrupted, dysfunctional
relationships.
The consequences of this second illusion should be sufficient to cause
him to cry out to God for his salvation. The hells of his life should
bring him back to God. But, it does not. For there is something within
man that refuses to give up the control that he perceives he has.
He knows something is wrong, but to the fix the fault of the second
illusion he creates a third illusion. Unable to experience the ultimate
life of meaningful relationships, and finding himself in the misery of
everyday life, he turns to the world of make believe. The imaginations,
the dreams, and the fantasies he creates in his own mind become the
means by which he attempts to experience life. So much so that he now
finds himself controlled by a world that his own mind has created.
Trying desperately to experience life in those dreams, he becomes in
bondage to these same dreams.
Living in this world of being controlled by the endless, hopeless
fulfilling of his own fantasies will eventually bring him to such
corruption and violence that God has to step in to destroy that world.
God will eventually, after much longsuffering, bring everyone to the end
of themselves. Once the individual is out of control of the world he
thought he could control, his cry finally rises to God in agony,
"Lord, save me, I am perishing."
|
Schedule