Tag: deliverance

Addressing the Root Problem

“Where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.” (James 3:16)

Humanity’s root problem is not irrationality or immorality. Its root problem is spiritual. It has to do with the state of our hearts, the springboard of our values, attitudes, motivations, decisions and actions. When our hearts are off everything is off. When our hearts are filled with selfish ambition there is all manner of disorder. There is breakdown of relationships. There is conflict within ourselves, with other persons, with other creatures, and with society and the world as a whole.

Our rationality and morality make things worse without hearts that are getting right, without our at least beginning to become centered and open to the Spirit of God in our lives. Without a change of heart, we rationalize and moralize the irrational and immoral.

Humanity’s core problem is selfish ambition, egotism. Rather than a self turned outward to our Creator and engaged with others and all creation with the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we instead live turned inward upon ourselves and seek to make others and our world conform to our inturned desires. When egotism holds sway, we go to war. We battle religiously and self-righteously. In other words, we rationalize our behavior.

Egotism operates with efficiency to provide justifications for our behavior. Power is exercised to get our way, self-righteousness clouds our conscience, and morality is whatever we make it. We fling moralisms at our opponents.

Then, when we hear from one whose morality comes from a very different place than that of our egocentric view of the world, it sounds foreign, unattainable, unreal. It makes little sense in the world as it is. In such a world, Jesus’ words about where blessing is found must be dismissed because he ignores the dynamics of the “real world” where battles are engaged for leverage and power over others. He tells us blessing is found with the “poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and with those who mourn “for they will be comforted,” and with those who hunger for righteousness “for they will be filled,” and with “the merciful, for they will receive mercy,” and with “the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” and with “those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The alternative to selfish ambition, which gives rise to all manner of disorder, is to acknowledge our deep need and profound hunger for God and for right relationships with others and with creation, a right relationship which comes through a journey of relinquishing our lives to God. Jesus’ central message was “Repent (turn back to God), for the reign of God is near.” Let God reign in your heart and be changed. Come, be on a journey of relinquishing. As Jesus said, “Lose you life and you will find it.” Let go, and keep letting go.

By the help of the Spirit, step away from the fight for power over others and come to a place of freedom to serve and to speak truth to egocentric power. Be witnesses from a center other than the egocentric self. Witness from the place of surrender to God and openness to what God is doing as God calls forth our true self made in the image of God. The false egocentric self remains as a source of temptation, but being released into newness of life by the grace of God provides growth in overcoming this downward pull of self-absorption.

The change that is needed in our families and neighborhoods and nation is ultimately a change of heart, a change in the centering of our lives. Such a change among leaders would bring courage to address the common good rather than serve ambition and personal power. With that change, there is freedom to speak the truth with clarity in response to arrogance, injustice and ruthlessness. Our God-given humanity calls us to an ever deepening journey of trust in God in order to be witnesses to true humanity and true community as gifts of our Creator.

Filed under: Faith, Grace, Humanity, SpiritualityTagged with: , , , ,

“Deliver Us From Evil”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Evil only produces death. God, who comes to us in Christ, gives life.

When I hear people urge us to war, when I hear leaders talk easily—again!—about preparing for war, I see evil at work; the thief is at work to maim, destroy and steal lives away from mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands and children. When a leader provides us with his “brilliant” rationale for regime change by military action, I do not hear brilliance or reasonableness or wisdom or knowledge; I hear evil stealing away heart and mind, compassion and love. The thief is present to do the only thing evil does: steal, kill and destroy.

Evil takes possession of our minds. It has us think that we have a reasonable approach to a problem, when, in reality, we have a plan that produces maimed bodies, traumatized minds, and death. Evil has us in a cycle of sin and death. Because of war, we have seen (and are presently seeing) hundreds of thousands killed. We have seen children left without parents, hundreds of thousands flee in terror, become refugees, displaced and hungry. We have seen the growth, rather than the diminishment, of terrorist organizations. And our bombs and weaponry terrorize, leaving death and destruction.

Possessed by evil, we think war makes sense; evil even has us think that we have understood the problem for which we have decided war is the solution. Some may question my use of the word, “possessed,” here. But, the word is descriptive of our experience, as we keep doing the same massively destructive activity, thinking that we will get different results. It is apparent that we cannot free ourselves. St. Paul writes of our being “captive to the law of sin.” We suffer from a form of possession. Christians have learned to confess this captivity in the words of a prayer of confession: “Most merciful God, we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.”

With confession, we no longer deny our condition. We are at the starting point of change. We acknowledge our bondage (as the prayer continues) “in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” Our thoughts and words have entangled us in destructive, harmful ways which we have rationalized. With confession, we acknowledge that we have been unable to stop going to war and justifying our actions.

The prayer of confession continues, “We have not loved you (God) with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” Now we get to the root of our warring ways: not loving, being alienated from the God who is love. This prayer of confession ends with these words, “Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.”

This prayer moves us to return to the source of our lives where we experience mercy, renewal, guidance, and delight in God’s will for humanity. As we discover life lived from Love, we become witnesses to love and peacemakers. We become, in St. Paul’s words, “ambassadors of reconciliation,” issuing the call to others to be reconciled to God and become at peace with one another. In response to the call, others join the movement to make peace and stand against war. They unite in a movement that works for change in heart, mind, and action. By our words and deeds, we affect the nation in which we reside, so that it may not so easily go to war, but rather become a more just society that acts justly in the global community. Acting justly is conducive to peace.

Filed under: Evil, Justice, Peace, WitnessTagged with: , ,