Jesus - Perfected Intercessor through Suffering

Recently I've gone through the book of Hebrews several times, fascinated by the beauty of Jesus that I have seen anew in this book. In the next few weeks I hope to share random thoughts from the book of Hebrews and from other Scriptures as well.

I was struck afresh with the truth of Hebrews 5:8,9 where the author says of Jesus' earthly life: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him..."

I asked the Holy Spirit what "being made perfect" meant for Jesus, who was sinless; and He immediately quickened Hebrews 4:15 to me: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin..."

What I understood the Spirit to show me in this is that one meaning of His being made perfect is that Jesus, though a son, was made a "perfect/complete" Intercessor through actually tasting and experiencing human weakness and frailty and vulnerability. I believe He tasted this in a couple of ways - first of all, simply by becoming fully human and tasting the limitations of created humans in many ways as He walked the earth for about 33 years; secondly, by yielding Himself up to the Father in death and becoming sin for us, therein drinking of the cup of suffering in its fullest measure, descending into the hell of human sin and suffering.

Though He was a sinless and beloved Son, He had to be made complete/perfect in understanding and sympathizing with all of human weakness. His suffering made Him an approachable, tender, non-judgmental High Priest, the Source of our salvation, to whom we can now go with confidence (Heb. 4:16). We now know, because of what He walked through, that no matter what the issue - be it our own acts of sin, or inner hidden sin and selfishness, or pain over others' sin against us, or loss, or the brokenness of dear ones, or the suffering of persecution, or poverty - there is ONE who is touched deeply with our feelings because He fully entered into them and His response to us will be one of compassion and understanding rather than impatience and irritation or disgust over our weaknesses.

We can see this in Jesus even before the cross in His dealings with humans. He was always tender and understanding with the weak and sinful and needy ones. Although the truth is that all humans are weak and sinful and needy, when Jesus encountered those who recognized their state, He loved being around them.

I believe that for those of us in the process of being conformed to His image, suffering can serve the purposes of purging us of sin and selfishness (since, unlike Jesus, we are sinful); but, like Jesus, suffering can serve to make us sympathetic, non-judgmental intercessors and lovers of people. I'm convinced that while prayer and the spiritual disciplines have a role in helping us understand God and others, there is a place of understanding and sympathy with others' feelings that is only possible through the experience of personal suffering; if Jesus needed to be made complete (fully mature) through the means of suffering, then certainly we need the same. His Spirit knows exactly what shape that suffering needs to take for each one of us.

It is important to realize that it's possible to "waste" our sufferings; in other words, if my suffering isn't met with faith, it won't produce godly compassion and understanding in me but will tend to cause my heart to harden and grow bitter. Faith understands that my pain and affliction counts for something eternal and is producing the likeness of the great Intercessor who is touched by the feelings of weak people; while it doesn't necessarily remove the painful feelings, it empowers me to be able to appreciate and say yes to the Spirit's good intentions for me in the suffering.

So I encourage you (and myself) to view the difficult situation(s) in our lives as the means that the loving Father has chosen or allowed to further shape us into the likeness of Jesus, the sympathetic High Priest who is totally approachable and without any shadow of judgmentalism towards the weak.

Grace and peace be yours in Him this week!

Holy Rewired - "Being You"

The final chapter in this book is very key to the rest of the book. To a certain degree, you could take all that the author has said in the book up till this point and humanistic-ally make it work (especially if you're a disciplined person), managing to change some undesirable or destructive or non-edifying behavior and yet not experience genuine core inner healing and transformation.

Phillips starts the chapter saying, "...in order for people to fully rewire their lives, there has to be a change in who they understand themselves to be...The problem is that few people understand who and whose they are...God provides an infinite, limitless perspective that expresses the infinite love of the infinite Creator to His finite created beings. As the Creator, He knows everything. He defines love because He is love. He defines life because He is life. As the One in whom everything fits and is held together, God is able to provide a perspective that the created cannot hold. This point of reference provides an absolute measure, a true north, not based on a limited understanding or cultural norms. It is safe to say, then, that a finite person's true identity is only found in the context of a relationship with the infinite God, His people, and with the scriptures."

He goes on to write about the creation story and the fall of humans through disobedience, resulting in confusion about our true identity. This is true of every individual, and it's a collective confusion as well..."As long as that identity of the first Adam remains in control, a person may change his or her behaviors in the short term, but long-term, holistic change will be evasive."

We're aware that without deep inner transformation, the change of outer behavior merely changes one addiction for another. The author refers to this as "addiction transfer."

"The Bible teaches that wholeness does not come primarily from changing our behavior but from being 'in Christ.' Only then can the journey towards wholeness begin. The expressions 'in Christ', 'in the Beloved', 'in him,' or similar phrases are used over one hundred times in Scripture to refer to Christ-followers. In one sense, 'in Christ' indicates a place...It is a positional transition. We are moved into a relationship with Christ. It also indicates an ontological change, or a change relating to essence or the nature of our being. By being 'in Christ', the Christ-follower has been given a new footing for his or her existence. The person has been recreated in, and into Christ." ...we are infused with the divine human life of Jesus Himself (this is not referring to becoming gods).

As we cooperate with the Spirit of God in the process of becoming transformed into the image of Jesus, we become more and more truly human because Jesus was the human we were designed to be in Genesis 1:26-27. "...the image of Christ is the greatest thirst of our being. It is the most profound yearning of a person's life, though in our brokenness, we fill it with all kinds of inadequate substitutes...This is the work of the Spirit in our lives...II Cor. 3:18 (NLT): 'So all of us who have had the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.'

"This process will take place in those areas where we are not yet conformed into that image...Through some channel, such as the scriptures, worship, teaching, a friend, or some other event, the Spirit of God will probe an area where we are not conformed to the image of Christ...It is these areas of our life that Jesus points to when he calls us to take up our cross."

(Watchman Nee says in his book, "Release of the Spirit", that the study and knowledge of the Scriptures or the reading of truth in books is not sufficient to deal with these areas of non-conformity to Jesus' image; only difficult circumstances of life in the hands of the Holy Spirit are sufficient to break us and mold us into His image. I (Nita) can testify to the truth of this.)

"We must give God permission to do the work God wants to do with us. Transformation is not forced upon us...Though God will continue to press those points, knocking at the door of our lives, he will not force open the doors. The writer George MacDonald writes, 'He watches to see the door move from within.'

"Spiritual formation is the great reversal: from being the subject who controls all other things to being a person who is shaped by the presence, purpose and power of God in all things...It moves us from 'acting to bring about the desired results in our lives to being acted upon by God and responding in ways that allow God to bring about God's purposes.'...It means that we relinquish our self-generated expectations..."

The author ends the chapter underscoring the importance of becoming childlike, going through the process of unlearning old ways of thinking and acting, unlearning emotions that resulted from painful experiences, unlearning old habits that are comfortable and familiar to us - but also learning new ways of thinking and acting. It is a rebirthing. Now as God adopted children, He walks with us through the process of unwiring the old fearful thoughts and ways that came with our biological family ties and rewiring our thoughts and ways according to the new family ties where our identity is that of a wanted and loved child cared for 24/7 by the infinite Creator Father.

It's a lifelong journey which won't be fully completed until the next age but we can have a good start in this age by the grace of God.

In my continuing personal journey into wholeness I find that the simple prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 119:94 is profound - it acknowledges who and Whose I am and my need for transformation and renewing. I pray it often: "I am Yours; save me..."

Holy Rewired - "A Community of Editors"

Rather than finish this book this week, I've decided to complete it next week instead and not cut the last two chapters short. So this week we'll cover the chapter related to the role of community in the rewiring of our brain (as it affects change of behavior).

In this chapter, Phillips presents scientifically what we know instinctively about the importance of those with whom we are in community. For the sake of brevity, I'll give a couple of summary bullet points:

1. Our brain's design is social; we are wired for social interaction which plays a role in "reshaping our brain through neuroplasticity....'our key relationships can gradually mold certain neural circuitry...being chronically hurt and angered, or being emotionally nourished, by someone we spend time with daily over the course of years can refashion our brain.' By refashioning our brain, we refashion our behavior."

2. Systems called mirror neurons have been found in the human brain. "They reflect back an action we observe in someone else...Mirror neurons are adjacent to the motor neurons", which means that "'the areas of the brain that initiate a movement can readily begin to activate even as we watch someone else make that same movement.'...Therefore, mirror neurons are what make emotions contagious. They ensure that generally, 'the moment someone sees an emotion expressed' on a face, that person will at once sense that same feeling within himself or herself."

The Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians to be careful about who they allowed to influence them, saying that "'bad company corrupts good character.' Paul understood intuitively what science is now teaching us: we act and feel like those we watch and observe. Through mirror neurons, we begin to construct neural scaffolding upon which our behaviors are wired and modeled."

(A personal insert here before finishing the chapter: as I was reading this, I was also reminded that the Holy Spirit in Paul shows His understanding of this reality in II Cor. 3:18 where He says that as we "behold" (look intently at) the beauty and glory of Jesus, we are being transformed into His image, becoming like Him. Applying what Phillips says, we could understand then that as we gaze/meditate on Jesus, His nature and character, we are bit by bit made like Him.
I believe that one of the most effective means of emotional healing in these days will be through studying/meditating on God's emotional makeup, understanding His emotions and, through contemplating them, being made whole like He is.)

The author takes some time to show the damage that has been done to modern society because of the general loss of community. He then concludes this chapter by saying, "...the loss of community has detrimental effects both socially and individually. When our relationships decline and deep interactions are reduced, we have limited a powerful piece of the behavioral change process. We lack mentors who can model behaviors for us. We lack those who could share with the wisdom that comes from age and experience. We do not have people in place who can help us work through our emotions. We have limited resources to help edit our lives into the image of Christ. Since the environments in which we grow up and the environments in which we live provide experiences that are ingrained within us, we need to reconsider the environments and communities that we participate in. Changing behavior may require us to change communities... Changing communities will influence our identity...

"The community challenges those on the journey together, creating a support structure for encouragement and reward. It also provides another function. The practices embedded in the community shape the identities of those who participate...The person is re-formed through the community, resulting in a new identity.

"A life holy rewired, therefore, has us finding our identity in a Christ-shaped community whose practices help shape us into a reflection of the image of Christ."

Holy Rewired - "Rewiring the Brain"

In the previous chapter, David Phillips addresses the need for dealing with emotional memories so that we can then recognize why we react to present events as we do and be enabled to begin to respond rather than react. "Rather than an emotional reaction that we do not understand, we can inhibit he automatic reaction and make the best decision - if we choose to. This allows us to think clearly without the distortion from a difficult experience. Clarity of thought allows us to think differently. Thinking differently allows us to rewire those neural paths we discussed in a previous chapter..."

In this chapter the author talks about some practical means for rewiring the circuits of our brain that have been "wired" wrongly through destructive reactions to incidents in our past; these practiced reactions result in sinful and unhealthy behaviors.

This rewiring of the brain can also be applied to habits that we want to change that may not necessarily be rooted in past trauma. For example, the author speaks of the habit he developed of opening his computer first thing in the morning and getting "sucked into" doing emails and even writing blog posts before he did anything else. This was resulting in the day often going by without his having had time waiting before the Lord and His Word in prayer and worship..."I did not even realize that I was wiring a circuit that would lead to potentially addictive behavior. Rewiring the behavior meant that I needed to unlearn one behavior and learn another behavior."

Phillips warns that changing a behavior can require "an enormous amount of energy. It can also require the pain of others' disapproval." He gives the example of a woman who was trying to quit the habit of chain smoking. Her husband and children said they were all for it, but when she would become very irritable because of not smoking, the family pushed her to go back to the habit so that they did not have to go through the painful transition time of her quitting. It's important to face the reality that changes in our behavior isn't always necessarily received well by those closest to us who have learned to live with our behavior and can even use it to their advantage at times.

The rest of the chapter deals with countering techniques for rewiring the brain. "Countering is 'substituting healthy responses for problem behaviors.' Undesirable behaviors have benefits...they help us cope with our emotional distress. When we try to change a habit or behavior, part of our journey could mean we have to replace that undesirable behavior with another behavior...Countering finds preferable substitutes."

The author suggest five countering techniques:
1. Active diversion - "involves refocusing your energy, finding an enjoyable behavior that precludes the problem behavior." So instead of engaging in the unhealthy behavior, one can clean house, take a walk, read, garden, etc., etc.
2. Physical exercise - "'Omitting exercise from a...change plan is like fighting a foe with one hand tied behind your back. You may still win, but the odds are against you. Inactive people are not only in poor condition for dealing with physical problems, they are frequently also in poor psychological condition for coping with the distress that can accompany change.'" (James O. Prochaska)
3. Relaxation - when exercise is not possible at certain times, relaxing can be helpful when one is tempted to engage in a harmful habit that he/she is changing. "Deep relaxation has been shown to produce a mildly altered physical and mental state. This can be done with simply quitting all one is doing and listening to relaxing worship music, meditating on the Word, contemplating the beauty of the Lord. Even a few minutes of this along with taking some deep breaths can be helpful...
4. Counterthinking - this is replacing wrong and troubled thinking with truth. Our wrong "self-talk" can trigger wrong behavior; by the same token, our right "self-talk" can help us engage in good behavior. "Counterthinking allows you to ask the question, 'What am I telling myself that is getting me so upset?'" One very effective way of dealing with self-talk is to memorize Scripture, and/or to keep an encouraging book at hand to read. I am being blessed by listening to long portions of Scriptures daily, thereby immersing my heart and mind in truth.
5. Assertiveness - the author uses this word in the sense of living out your true identity in the Lord, not bending into others through the fear of man.

The chapter ends with the author's admonition to also change your environment and to enjoy rewards when you have overcome an unhealthy habit. If you find that your surroundings keep you from engaging in healthy habits, then look for another environment. The author speaks of his need to get out of his house in order to do a writing project because of the pull to watch TV too much when in the house.

"Countering, environmental controls, and rewards all facilitate the rewiring of our neural circuits. By creating new patterns of behavior, we see new circuits formed...by not using the old circuits, their synaptic strength degrades, resulting in reducing the frequency with which they will fire together."

Next week I will conclude this book by covering the role of community and looking at real, genuine inner transformation (in contrast to mere external behavior change).