Through
a Glass, Darkly
By Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the February 16, 2013 Sabbath School Lesson
“Do
you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,
whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a
price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV
The above passage is often repeated by Christians
choosing to emphasize the idea of healthy living. While exercise, proper diet,
adequate sleep and many other healthful practices are certainly ways to show
our respect for our bodies, the verses have a far deeper import than simply
good health. They speak to the very core of Christian experience—ownership.
They assert that we do not belong to ourselves, rather we belong to God.
In the West and in particular in North America where
there is a long tradition of rugged individualism, this is a concept that sometimes
finds little support. The rugged individualist who is responsible for his or
her own destiny and overcomes difficult odds by sheer grit and determination is
a popular folk hero. Whether we consider
John Wayne in his many roles, or Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo or Rocky Balboa,
the go-it-alone hero is always a big box-office draw because these movies tap
the core of the myth. They are not controlled by events; they shape them to
their will. Even Han Solo in “Star Wars” was never controlled by the quasi-spiritual
Force. Instead, he was taught to control and manipulate it. Consequently, many western
Christians approach their relationship to God in the same way. They prefer to “go
it alone” until it gets too tough to continue. Only then do they seek “power from
on high,” power that they can use to continue on the course of action that they
had already decided was where they wanted to go in the first place.
Perhaps this attitude was born on the frontier where
neighbors were far and few between. Maybe the feeling was if you were not
strong and self-supporting, nature quickly culled you from the population.
While this Darwinian notion may feed the romantic stereotype of the rugged
frontiersman, in reality, even though neighbors were spread thin, they still
came together to help with barn raisings and other farm activities as needed.
Neighbors would also hunt together. The hostile wilderness, rather than
encouraging people to stand alone, instead brought people together for support
and safety.
It is possible that the idea may have originated instead
from the Old World of Europe. It may have sprung from the medieval romance of
the knight errant. The television series “Paladin,” starring Richard Boone made
an obvious link between that image and the one of the western hero. Boone,
skilled with weapons (always an important part of the folk myth), advertises
his skill for hire. Like the romantic knight errant, however, his skill is not
for hire to just anyone. The cause must be virtuous. Woe to the man or woman
who represents themselves as worthy for his services and proves otherwise. The
paradox is that those who tap into this mythology, today, tend to deem their
cause as just and virtuous even when it is not. Virtue, as with beauty, tends
to be in the eye of the beholder.
As part of this mythology, Christians will often cite “God
helps those who help themselves,” not realizing that this saying comes not from
the Bible but from an almanac published by Benjamin Franklin. This is often
interpreted in practice as going it alone until you can’t go any further, then
it is OK to seek help. While it is not scriptural, it has taken on a life of
its own everywhere, from private conversations to social media. Few understand
the implications of such a belief. It implies that God is more concerned about
whether or not a person deserves without respect to their need. This concept
affects everything from our understanding of the character of God to our
understanding of the character of mankind, who was made in God’s image.[i]
As the verse at the top of the page attests, the
understanding of ownership weighs heavily in the balance when we consider the
dynamics of the divine-human relationship. For instance, if we take a Deistic
approach, we may assume that God, in spite of owning His creation, has little
interest in His creatures. One would expect self-reliance to be a virtue in
that scenario. This still might allow us to season life with a few miracles,
here and there, if we can get the attention of such a disinterested deity. However,
this seems far too much like the religion of those prophets of Baal on Mount
Carmel, whom Elijah chided about needing to work extra hard to get their god’s
attention.[ii] In contrast, Elijah’s prayer
was answered immediately. This does not seem to support a Deistic faith system.
Instead, this identifies very well with a God that Jesus said knows the number
of the hairs on our heads.[iii]
The Bible seems to argue very strongly in favor of a God
who is not only aware of our day-to-day needs, but is actively engaged in our
lives. So much is He involved with us that at times His communication with us
is to let us know, “I’ve got this!” and all we need to do is be still and let
Him work.[iv] With such a relationship
our insistence on being rugged individuals, responsible for our own well-being,
may actually interfere with God’s desire to inject grace into our lives. He enjoys
working in our lives and does so often according to our faith in Him.[v] If we place our faith,
first and foremost, in ourselves, then we may be limiting ourselves to only
what we can provide for our needs and our safety. However, if we place that
faith, first and foremost, in God, then we may find provision for our needs in
ways and from sources that we would never have been able to see in any other
way except through the eyes of faith.
Some may feel, like the Apostle Thomas, faith is not
enough. We want proof of God’s love and care before we are ready to exercise
faith. God will work with that, but He reminds us that the blessing is with
those who have faith without proof.[vi] But why would God choose
to relate to us in this way? Perhaps it is because of His ownership.
If we consider a secular example, we might look at a
person like Steve Jobs. No one would ever have questioned why he would care
about the Apple Macintosh personal computer. We would see that as a given because
he invented it and manufactured it. Yet, even though we can understand such a
relationship in terms of an inventor and his invention, we have difficulty
understanding how a God, whom the Bible tells us created us, would be actively
involved in fixing our flaws and making us successful.[vii] The Apostle John
understood this about God. Perhaps this is why his gospel is so full of love
and compassion. He saw a caring God actively involved not only in his life, but
in the world around him, and in each of those actions, he could trace the
character of love. No wonder he felt that “God is love.”[viii]
Because God loves His creatures, He makes provision for
our survival and prosperity in this hostile world, tainted with the presence of
evil. Satan and tens of millions of evil angels continually do their best to
thwart those purposes.[ix] They would love to
encourage us to rely on ourselves rather than God. They know that someone who
does is weak and easy to conquer. This is the same tactic that Matthew tells us
that Satan used with Jesus in the wilderness.[x]
First the Devil encouraged Jesus to use His own ability
to create food for himself. But Jesus told him we should trust in God rather
than ourselves. Then he built upon that response by challenging Jesus to prove
that He could trust in God by throwing himself from the pinnacle of the temple.
But Jesus knew that faith does not need proof, else it is not faith. Finally,
the Devil told Jesus that if He came to claim the world, he could give it to
Him. All He needed to do was to bow down and worship him. This was the very
same temptation offered to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Don’t rely on God to make
things happen. You are smart enough to see how you can accomplish your goals on
your own. God requires too much with all this trust and faith and sacrifice
stuff. Just go your own way, and follow your own drummer.
However, just like Steve Jobs with the Macintosh, if God
created us then perhaps He knows best what will be necessary for our success. Perhaps
we were never intended to “go it alone” as rugged individualists. Perhaps the
God who walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day,[xi] would still like to walk
with us, today. Maybe He already is and our eyes are so focused on our own
selves and our abilities we fail to see Him, just as Elisha’s servant could not
see the chariots of fire surrounding the city of Dothan and protecting them
from harm.[xii]
Again, as Jesus told Thomas, “…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed.”[xiii]
