Weapons...

In my meditations on scripture, I'm presently in Psalm 44; I typically look at different versions to start with, and this week I was struck with the wording of vss 6,7 in The Message:

                                                      I don’t trust in weapons;
                                                     my sword won’t save me—
                                         But it’s you, you who saved us from the enemy...

As I read this, the following question came to me: what 'weapons' do I trust in to 'save' me?

To start, why do weapons exist? I believe they exist because of fear, and that the enemy I need saving from is death in its many forms (Heb 2:14-18); in other words, the fear of death drives me to accumulate weapons. Fear of death is a foundational human predicament and a subject that Richard Beck deals with very well in his book, The Slavery of Death. (For a review of his book and some understanding of why I propose that weapons exist because of fear of death, you can read what I wrote a couple of years ago on this: Disinterested Love...) 

Now to the question about what weapons I trust in to save myself - I identified several weapons that I tend to lean on in this season of my life when I feel threatened. I will summarize them as follows:
1) Weapon #1: knowledge or gathering information to bolster my point of view when I feel my worldview is threatened.
2) Weapon #2: possessions or holding tightly to what I have when I perceive that my lifestyle may be threatened.
3) Weapon #3: relationships or people-pleasing when I feel certain relationships could be threatened.

Knowledge, possessions and relationships are legitimate needs that, when met, contribute towards general health and well-being; it's natural and acceptable that we instinctively reach for whatever will satisfy our needs. But it is the fear or anticipation of loss of these things that drives us to turn these things into 'weapons' to dehumanize or neglect others for the sake of our own survival.

The psalmist says that my weapons will not 'save' me but rather that it is God who saves me from the enemy of death and loss. Motivated by love, God in Jesus broke the power of the fear of death over humanity by submitting to death (Heb 2). In doing this, He has empowered humans to love selflessly; and disinterested love is the antidote to fear. Each day I get to choose love over fear whether I am conscious of it or not. I still need that which knowledge, possessions and relationships can give me, but I must not find my sense of security and well being in knowledge, possessions or relationships or I will end up weaponizing them to survive. 

A life of self-giving love is the way of trusting in God to save me rather than resorting to using weapons to protect myself.

Can you identify particular 'weapons' that you are tempted to trust in when feeling threatened?




 

Is Spiritual Maturity Possible without Emotional Health?

I'm presently reading a book entitled Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible to be Spiritually Mature while Remaining Emotionally Immature, written by Peter Scazzero.

Although the material in Scazzero's book isn't new to me, it has given greater focus, clarity, and language to a reality that I have embraced and taught for some years, which is that all of God's heart and intention is summed up in Jesus' words when he was asked about the commandments of God: “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31 NLT)

Scazzero uses his own experience as an emotionally broken pastor of a multi-ethnic congregation in New York City to illustrate the need for joining contemplation with emotional health in order to be spiritually mature. He equates contemplation of God with 'loving the Lord you God with all your heart...'; and he equates emotional health with 'loving your neighbor as you love yourself.' In other words, loving God and others is necessary for spiritual maturity, and we cannot genuinely love others without emotional health.

The following are some quotes from the book:

"Being productive and getting things done are high priorities in Western culture. Praying and enjoying God's presence for no other reason than to delight in him was a luxury, I was told, that we could take pleasure in once we got to heaven. For now, there was too much to be done. People were lost. The world was in deep trouble. And God had entrusted us with the good news of the gospel...

"Are these things wrong? No. But work for God that is not nourished by a deep interior life with God will eventually be contaminated by other things such as ego, power, needing approval of and from others, and buying into the wrong ideas of success...Our experiential sense of worth and validation gradually shifts from God's unconditional love for us in Christ to our works and performance...

"The greatest commandments, Jesus said, are that we love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul and that we love our neighbor as ourselves...Brother Lawrence called (contemplation) 'the pure loving gaze that finds God everywhere.'...We are not simply about experiencing a better quality of life through emotional health. Awareness of and responding to the love of God is at the heart of our lives...

"Emotional health, on the other hand, concerns itself primarily with loving others well. It connects us to our interior life, making possible the seeing and treating of each individual as worthy of respect, created in the image of God and not just an object to use. For this reason, self-awareness -- knowing what is going on inside of us -- is indispensable to emotional health and loving well. In fact, the extent to which we love and respect ourselves is the extent to which we will be able to love and respect others."

I highly recommend this book as foundational in making disciples (mature followers of Jesus).