The Romance of Romans-Part 105

Romans 15 cont'd

Even the most powerful man of all, Jesus Christ, didn't use his power to create for himself a pain-free and pleasure-filled earthly life. As scripture says, "I have personally identified with and embraced the rejection they have shown you O God." All the scriptures have been written to impart knowledge, patience and comfort to us so that we can live in hope- a confident expectation of a glorious future.

Comments:

Moving more deeply into the heart of understanding how we, as "fallen image bearers" (who possess both dignity and depravity) develop, face and surmount problems, we see that human beings and relations are like icebergs...what you see on the surface of the water is much smaller than the mass of what lies below. This can complicate our lives a bit! Furthermore, we do not become easily conscious (self-aware) of what moves us at the core of our beings. We must turn to the wisdom of scripture to help us pinpoint what goes on in the depths of the human soul. (How many of the Bible's narratives...and it's instructions...are recorded to achieve this very end!) And then...we must also rely on the Holy Spirit and the feedback of wise friends to make it more personal for our own selves.

Larry Crabb summarizes the essence of our nobility as the longing for intimacy and the longing for impact. From the very beginning of life we yearn to connect with and be loved by "another" and not be rejected. We also have a core desire to use our abilities to make an impact for good on the people and world around us. Dr. Crabb emphasizes that these desires, in their essence, should be affirmed, because they are aspects of the Imago Dei...the image of God...in the human being. They cannot actually be repented of and the attempt to do so wastes our energies and damages our humanity.

The Imago Dei in a human being...according to the good doctor...consists of our being, as God is, relational, rational, volitional and emotional. I imagine there are other classic aspects of the Imago Dei, but these certainly will do for a start. These things about us, also then, are to be acknowledged, affirmed, accepted and celebrated. To do less is an insult to our Creator.

So...our genuine problems do not lie with these two embedded longings. Rather, they develop from our profound reactions to how these longings become stymied and frustrated as we live and relate in this broken world. Instead of experiencing the kind of intimacy we have been designed for, we experience an insufficient love...and even outright rejection...from the people we look to for this intimacy. No one loves us the way we long to be loved. Instead of freely making the impact we long for, we experience injustices that block and hinder our freedom to use our talents. Some people, we expect will help pave the way for us to make our contribution, become envious of or threatened by our strengths, and intentionally undermine our efforts and/or discredit our motivations.

This situation, extended over the course of some years leaves us, when left to our own resources to cope with the reality, in a terrible and tragic pain at the center of our souls. It is our very human reactions to having this kind of pain in our deep hearts that then activate our own depravity. We have been victimized by others' sins of rejection and injustice and, out of our effort to "survive", we become agents of sin ourselves. This age is weighed down by a vicious cycle of human depravity...and the evil of it runs right through our own souls.

Yet still, there is hope for transformation....