The discovering of God’s will for one’s life is a conversation that is common place amongst believers. Many a verse is offered up as guidance and much of the trajectory of people’s choices and intentions arise from a highly personalized sense of how God directs. Is it possible that we will find a deeper sense of the authentic self when we look at our futures through the lense of those around us or in proximity to our awareness? Could the actual needs of our friends, our family, our community and our world be offering a path to follow?
As the self wanes in its exaltedness, the possibility of relationships and purposes outside the highly introverted sense of choice come to the fore. We begin to actually find meaning & direction by being in relationships. We find our self in the selves of others and in the projections they place upon us. We see the glory of others and this glory causes us to dream and plan for a better world. Our plans, however, begin to take place with those directly in our presence. There is no future home. There is now.
Joanne Vance, a visual artist said the following about her life and work. “The essence of my work is humanity; how we value ourselves and are valued. This goes far beyond brush and canvas. It is my aim to blur the distinction between my life and my work so the two become inextricably linked. Hopefully my life will become my art…maybe eve vice versa.” She goes on to say...” I am an artist, mother, and wife, not in any particular order. I am interested in people, family values, fidelity, integrity and hope. I am passionate about touching the lives of people who feel undervalued and irrelevant, not for my gain but for theirs. Obviously, with that sort of ethic, come great rewards anyway, so it’s a winning situation.”
What causes some human beings to offer up their lives as a gift of service while others make an art form out of self aggrandizement? Is it possible that the template for self discovery and expression as reflected in Western European societies is not merely sub biblical but antithetical to the very story Jesus offered?
Give and it shall be given. You are not your own. Pick up your cross daily. Die to yourself. Serve. These are all parts of our Christian story. Yet for many of us a competing ethos has crowded out our ability to incorporate those truths into our idea of the self and our life direction and work. We have been formed deeply by a narrative that ties so much of our worth around our paycheck, our status and our productivity as defined by economics.We are busy building barns and fences.
Upon closer scrutiny we may find that much of our intentionality about the way we engage life direction depends upon the maximization of our abilities to acquire, spend and protect. Getting, spending and hording now overwhelmingly replace other activities and our very souls become reflections of the consumer that we have become. More always trumps better. Or, we make sure that we have control over the acquisitions and are the sole administrator of the estate we have acquired.
To acquire involves our presence. If life direction is the acquisition of personal wealth then the wealth of others, community and the world becomes of secondary importance if important at all. Wealth (the good kind) in this case is the perception of development of the assets and opportunities afforded us by seeing life direction through the needs and presence of others. This kind of wealth is generally not on our radar. Why? There is an untested consensus in the West that more is always better. There is an unquestioned complicity that individuals must first take care of themselves before they can take care of others.
There is a well known financial guru who teaches in many ways that the biblical mandate for financial stewardship is to first get “your house” in order and THEN help others. As I have watched this man’s disciples of sorts go out into the world I find that they never get their house in order because no one has ever tested the foundational philosophies around what their house should look like. No one is asking them what their life direction is about. It is assumed that the mandate of a society built around financial independence is sacrosanct. It need not be questioned. It is just the “way things are.”
When the needs of others become the possible voice of God, we listen differently. We begin to see their needs not as burdens to bear but opportunities to share. In the sharing we deepen our own humanity and begin to have solidarity with others around their deepest most human parts and not the superficial issues of acquired wealth and status.
The incarnation is more than a theological concept. It is the story and posture of a God who decided that the sharing of Himself was His deepest desire. As love, what else could He do but offer His very best? When we continue to see life direction through the needs of others, the story of the Incarnation is written again in our hearts. The very nature of the world turns towards restoration and redemption. The Kingdom of God is manifest on earth as it is in heaven. We become a gloriously rich community able to see the very Godhead in each other’s neediness. This is a gift. "There is enough when we share." - Jim Wallis
No comments:
Post a Comment