In seeking fulfillment through self-effort, we became destructive and separated from God. However, God is the source of life, significance, and love. We need the input of God’s power in love. It comes from God directly to us. We can only receive this power in a walk with Jesus but in our natural state, we do not always know He is the source. Those who want to follow Jesus may want to know what could prevent that walk.
As we grow, we become more and more oriented to the natural world. We see that growth as maturity. We lose the wonder of childhood and begin to take the world we live in for granted. If God exists, He seems distant. We take it that maybe He is not there, or if He is there, he does not care. We also then begin to believe that we are autonomous; it is just us, and we need to make the best of it. If we are going to find fulfillment, we need to do so against all odds and against every person who opposes our quest. We believe that we have no one else, so we search within for what we need.
However, if the above is true, then it is every person for himself. We will co-operate when it is to our advantage and resist when that works better. Without God, morals are what we agree to, and the most powerful person gets to set the rules. Most of us know this does not work. If we are honest with ourselves, we are not satisfied with this life; our efforts are continually frustrated. Even though it does not work so well, we do not want to give up our autonomy, the idea that we can do whatever we want to do. We keep our autonomy even though we may know that the world’s evils stem from other people’s autonomy.
In this frame of mind, religion, of most any kind, including Christianity, only provides mutual support, a mutually agreed morality, and an emotional or psychological crutch, for those who need it. To the natural mind, the idea of God then is an add-on to a life that, on its own, can reach the loftiest goals. While most everything we said about religion, in general, is true, we cannot then assume that God is not necessary.
This world is full of evil. Man has not done very well. We may become complacent in countries that have a Christian background. In the Western world, in particular, it seems that man has done rather well. However, there are glaring counter-examples. Man’s inhumanity to man is diabolical. However, we know it should not be like that.
Man is created to be a loving personal being. We have the equipment necessary for personal relationships. Because of this, we naturally prize personal relationships above every other value. We have a self-identity that can distinguish other selves that we encounter. We have the ability to communicate so that we can have a relationship that is more than physical, through the verbal exchange of ideas. We have minds that can categorize experience and ideas and form concepts. We have creative ability giving us things to share with others. We have memory to build on our knowledge of another. We have logic in which we can discuss the merits of an idea. We have a built-in leaning towards morality that tells us that our behavior toward others matter. We have empathy to know what another person is feeling.
With this equipment, we seek and prize relationships but something is missing. We have all the equipment to love, but it still does not work to our satisfaction. We love using our ability, but there is always something wrong. Our efforts often fall short of our intentions. Our intention to love is often met instead with conflict. We can do so much, but something holds us back. Being equipped to love is not enough. We also need a source of love. Unless we receive love from a source that never fails us, we cannot give love that never fails. That source cannot be like us. It must be perfect, and it must not be dependent, as we are, and it must be unlimited. We need Jesus.
We are like a displacement hull sailboat. I used to have a 38-foot sailboat, and I learned something about how fast it would go through a thing called “hull speed.” The concept of hull speed is that a displacement hull boat has a limit as to how fast it can go through the water. The boat pushes through the water creating a greater and greater resistance as the speed increases. The hull speed is calculated based on the waterline length of the boat. The longer the boat, as it sets in the water, the greater its hull speed. The boat creates a bow wave that is evident along its side. So if you see a crest at the bow and another midway along the side, it is going half its hull or maximum speed. If, however, you see only one wave, it has reached its maximum speed. My 38-foot boat had a hull speed of about 8 knots. It is as if it was captured by its own wave and could not get over it. A power boat is designed to plane above the wave, and it is evident when the boat climbs. All of sudden it is free, and the engine runs more smoothly and the speed picks up. My displacement boat would not do that, and it did not matter how much power I added to the boat using sail or engine, it would not go faster.
Our attempt at life and love is like that. It is like we are physically limited in what we can give, and it does not matter how hard we try. We start out knowing that love works just fine. We are fine-tuned to love, and the harder we work at it the more love we produce. However, there is a limit, and when we reach that limit, we cannot provide more love. We have reached our maximum ability to love, based on our natural design. If we want a love that will continue to work, we need the transformation of God’s love. Then we can rise above our natural ability and have sufficient love to get along with people and to bless people instead of hurting them.
When we do not yet have a walk with God, our value system is based on only ourselves. So we love others but only to bring value back to ourselves. If the value does not come back to us, we stop loving. If instead of love we get rebuffed or criticized, we return destructive actions: we get even; we get justice for ourselves; we let them have a piece of our mind; we destroy them. So that which began as love becomes hate. Our love had a limit. We could not deliver more.
If we had all the love that we needed, we could have avoided the destructive actions, but we do not naturally have what we need. The reason is that we are dependent beings. Only the infinite God of three persons has the source of love, and we have no natural access to that love. God will freely give it, but not while we are destructive beings.
The satisfaction that we seek, and the personal fulfillment that we want, is a spiritual thing. Many say that the physical world is all that exists. However, the things that are most important to us are not physical. Physical activity is a means to an end but the end is not physical. Hitting a home run is a physical activity but the great feeling of having done it is spiritual. The only reason that we pursue physical, sensual, and practical goals is to achieve spiritual fulfillment in life, significance and love. We know we are dependent beings in the physical realm. Why should we think that we are independent beings in the spiritual realm?
Something or someone has to be self-existing and self-sustaining in both the physical and spiritual realms. The law of cause and effect says that the cause has to be greater than the effect. Only an infinite source can be both self-existing and self-maintaining. There is no hope for success in life and love, no hope for fulfillment in this life, if God does not exist. Moreover, if the infinite source also has a will and the ability to create, he is identical with the personal, infinite God of the Bible. It follows, then, that God is the source of all things. If we want a love that will last and will work in all relationships, we need to go to the source.
Our natural way of loving is to give love as an investment. We give only to get a return. We invest love to get a return on our investment of an equal or greater value. Most of us want to get more back than we give. Some will settle to break even. However, no one, without an unlimited source, will give love without a return. The return we seek can come in various ways. We may not seek it from the person in whom we invest. We may look for a return on our invested love from other people who admire us for our “selflessness”. Especially if we make sure that many people know about it. Some people who love publicly are tyrants in private. No person loves naturally without a return. Moreover, if we cannot love, we will destroy other people and in the process destroy ourselves. Love requires an outside source and we find it in the spiritual, the supernatural, the creator God.
In our walk with Jesus, we turn the pattern of love upside down. Now instead of loving to get a return, we love out of the abundance of the love given by God. With that kind of an outpouring of God’s power in love, nothing can stop us. No one can defeat us. They can look down on us, but we need not notice. Nor can anyone take our joy away because we are living with an unlimited supply.
So we need a walk with Jesus because we cannot love or live without Him. Give it some thought and let us know at Rescued For Love how we continue the conversation.