“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell
My life is about the one.
Growing up in a religious environment; always striving, trying to please and achieve, it took a long time to get there… but, at almost 42 it is beginning to make sense…
The spirit of religion is a dangerous and deceptive thing. For many of us that grew up in the Church we don’t even realize how religious we really are. For some it manifests in overachieving; afraid to fail so we put unrealistic expectations on ourselves, our marriage, our kids and the people around us.
For others it’s being afraid of success; the responsibility if I do achieve is too much! I will never maintain and when people find out who I really am… and shame rules our life.
These days I have surrounded myself with mostly 50 and 60 year olds… most of my friends in their 50’s are all saying the same thing; life is about how to please your wife – literally stopping and asking her, “What do you want”? and actually doing it! They are also all about the one.
Building a successful business or big ministry makes them ill. They have seen enough “Life” made a lot of plans and goals that didn’t turn out how they thought. Or, maybe they have turned out just like they thought and it still wasn’t enough… and now life is much simpler.
How do I make the people around me better and how do I serve the “one” day-by-day that know one else will serve?
Gary,
Truth promotes challenge, along with responsibility and ultimately,action. I am one of those 50-60 guys now embracing the one truth!
I love how Eugene Peterson paraphrases Romans 11:32 (MSG)
“In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.”
I think this verse sums up how God redeems the religious spirit.
I believe God is the God of rock bottom. He spends our whole lives,if necessary, bringing us to a place of complete dependence on Him. A place where we know, no matter what we do, we can do nothing good or meaningful apart from Him. For me that was age 30.
He is THERE when we 0verachieve and FAIL. I think that is what He wants for us when we achieve at all on our own…FAILURE. I think He wants us to fail because we look for Him when we fail. He is in the failure. He meets us there. He is THERE when we do achieve to much and people DO find out who we REALLY are. He wants to expose us for who we REALLY are WITHOUT Him, so we can be who we are made to be WITH Him. He wants this part done and over with in our lives…so we can start living His life.
I think we come to this place a lot in our lives…but we almost always figure out our own way out. We become rule and task oriented to keep ourselves out of our messes. We white knuckle our own problems. That is our problem. I just spent 2 weeks with high school aged teens, and saw that the human condition is the same no matter what stage of life you are at. The problems are just age and depravity appropriate. Because of where I am at and what I have just been through, I was able to point out where God has brought failure into several teens lives in hopes that they will see there nothingness and give that to Him. I pray they will.
Until we reach that place of giving our NOTHING to Him, I believe, if we are lucky, our life is painful no matter what we achieve. I feel most sorry for the people who have achieved without God. I have friends who think their life is just fine without Him. I thank God my life, no matter what good I did, was a mess until I REALLY said “here…I am NOTHING”…and believed it…knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. That inner mess is what kept me searching for the “something better”…until I heard is voice.
Few really serve the “one” because they run and hide from the pain their failure causes…and fix it by their own strength. When you have the God of the universe fighting for your pain until you fall to your knees the world can be a painful place. We have to stare that pain in the face as He walks us through it…and truly saves us before we can serve Him. God wants us there…but we fight it…we get mad at Him instead of surrendering. We need to stop fighting and just surrender.
Sorry for the novel…that was long. 🙂