Reality Check

There are seasons in our lives that always present opportunities for change. People can feel very frightened of change. We place our trust in the routine and rhythm of life and the path that we are walking, and we endure the storms that might want to blow us off course.

Some of these storms are the injustice we see in the world around us or in the opportunity that we believe we have been denied. Sometimes we are simply dissatisfied with our ‘lot’ and want change. Unfortunately, when we battle change, we pick up injuries along the way that can both bruise us and deeply wound us.

We all operate in this type of environment, where our encounters with people determine the direction our paths take. Unexpected challenge can threaten us in ways we are unfamiliar of; we experience challenges in areas of our lives that we are ill-equipped to handle, especially when we consider the consequences of the decisions that we make. There can be physical violence in all of its form’s, actual bodily harm to grievous bodily harm. There is the emotional scarring that comes from abusive relationships that use intimidation and malevolent behaviour as forms of control. Then there are the psychological weapons that people use to determine how they might get what they want from those they feel are vulnerable to coercion.

The natural scientists and indeed the reductionist view, may even argue that these states of human behaviour are part of man’s natural evolutionary path and there is no wrong in what is happening. It is simply humanities unchecked morality that is expressing itself without any artificial forms of control. Now this is a very liberal view of humanity where our actions are considered to be preconceived by the material body and the mind, reacting to causation that leads to these extreme behaviours.

Some have indeed argued that those who commit atrocities cannot help their human nature, as it is part of their human condition to behave and react in such ways. Indeed, to question ones human expression may ultimately be a form of control that is unhelpful to the natural course of events. The church is often seen as complicit in placing on humanities collective will, a set of man-made, self-serving, religious rules that seek to control a population for its own end. Humanity today has seemingly outgrown these superstitious and ‘evil’ practices as Dawkins would call them, in favour of science and reason.

In a secular view of the world, we can observe pockets of good-will and charity being expressed throughout the civilised world... we don't need religion to tell us to do this do we? These acts in themselves prove humanities desire to do ‘good’ and to help his fellow man in their pursuit of an egalitarian view of the world. A type of STAR TREK  world that was once described by Captain Picard to an alien race, where mankind seeks to better itself, providing opportunities for all peoples regardless of race, gender and sexual persuasion. Live and let live. This view is obscured through many man-made political and economic mechanisms such as capitalism or globalisation, which distort the natural condition of humanity, creating inequality. When these are banished, the world will finally be able to express its full humanity and rid itself of the corruption that exists today.

For now, we exist in an insular environment where we protect our families from the perceived threat at our door. We seek financial reward for the work we do so that we have the capacity to enrich our experience of this life and all of its pitfalls. We even disconnect ourselves from face-to-face experiences through social media and only invite people into our lives on the click of an editorial. We are caught between wanting to tell the world of our amazing experiences in life and the desire to protect our privacy from those who we deem to be a social pariah.

We all seem to have developed an intuitive distrust of those that want to break into our private domain, putting up barriers through the emotional and physical signals we display to others. Body language and the superficiality of our interactions can often betray how we really feel about people. We are so competitive for what we want to get from our interactions with our peers that you can now go on courses about the benefits of networking and socially interacting with colleagues whilst at work.

 

Our genuine relationships need no effort. It’s amazing that with friends you rarely see, you are able to pick up where you left off as though time was unimportant. In relationships built on trust, there are few barriers to what can be said and done. We appreciate their counsel and can accept it when criticism creeps in because you know that ultimately, they have your best interests at heart. However, it is increasingly hard to develop those types of relationships in our post-modern experiences of life.

 

I have seen my children struggle to develop bonds with their peers when their relationships have become exclusive. Often something has been either said or done, which is deemed by those in the centre, to exclude them from that group. My daughter particularly, has experienced being the un-cool child desperate for some attention from her peers.

 

We are relational creatures who crave attention from our associations with others and find it difficult in group settings, when our openness is crushed by the demonstrative nature of the group leaders. This is why social media is so compelling. We seek assurance from our relative anonymity whilst seeking self-expression… We accept friend requests or seek new followers as though it affirms us beyond the physical nature of our person.

Life is a complicated web of interactions spurred on by our dominant personalities and our emotional self-sufficiency. I work with colleagues at both sides of the personality spectrum. One is the eternal optimist who seems to relish each new day and has a positivity to his nature that can either be contagious or an annoyance. My other colleague is the moody one who brings his world into the office. His negativity can suck the joy out of the morning and the tension is so tangible it can appear visible. Who is to know what they carry with them in secret that helps to define who they are? We work alongside each other in a delicate interplay of respect and professional conduct that befit the setting we are in.

It is interesting to note that in my working environment, our relationships have never progressed beyond the functional boundaries that the job entails. We might describe our lives outside of our office but we never share in it. One colleague recently failed to turn up for his own ‘baby-shower’ even though it was proposed a month before hand. Aren’t we an odd bunch! There are others who crave a more dynamic and interesting social life to help counteract the pressure of a busy work-life balance where work seems to be too dominant. We look for ways to let-our-hair-down. In the UK, we live in a culture of working hard and partying hard, yet it is often when we have down-time, when we take time-out to have a vacation or take on other pursuits, that we can recognise we have something missing from our lives.

A poor work life balance can also lead to many different expressions of stress and anxiety. Some scientists say that our bodies suffer from the common cold because we have reached a specific pressure point where our physiology is worn out. We become vulnerable to physical and mental insecurities when we are run down, leaving us exposed to the virus that starts with a bit of tension in our shoulders or a nose that starts to produce too much mucus! I am certain that our elevated levels of blood pressure, heart disease, immune deficiencies, and digestive problems, all have contributory stress related causal effects.

Stress leads to a wide variety of social, emotional and physiological factors that can have other consequences. We manage our stress and anxiety issues through the comfort we derive from the lives that we live. The first being to protect that which we love and the second being to grab life as we know it with both hands because it will never come again.

Our bodies are amazing biological organisms that can absorb an inordinately large amount of abuse. Some believe that our bodies can endure this type of punishment without affecting our mind or even our soul, if such a thing exists. We still possess the ability to reason and to make informed decisions, despite the abuse we might inflict our bodies to. This type of lifestyle cannot endure. At some point, our physiology will start to fail; our ability to manage our indulgences against any addictive properties of the lifestyle we choose, can cause us to succumb to a need for more. And when we arrive at this point, what do we have?

There are those of us of a more timid character, who withdraw into a closed psychological perspective. This is where we seek to protect our vulnerabilities as a form of defence, by withdrawing from perceptions of threat. As we fear what we may be left exposed to, we construct sophisticated strategies to disengage from situations that we are unfamiliar with. This can have far reaching side effects, leading to anxiety and exposure to depression and illnesses such as agoraphobia or OCD… I don’t particularly like making telephone calls for example and I will avoid using them if I can as part of my control of this phobia.

The mind is a powerful organ, able to prepare our reactions to the causal effects of the information it processes from all of our senses. Some consider the brain to be a supercomputer that through experience and memory, responds to the situations we are presented with through causality. There are a variety of factors that cause us to react to the situations we face, with multiple consequence which then leads to intermediate effects. So we form habitual interactions with the world around us which we commit to memory, holding our reactions in reserve until we call on it through our reasoned responses to the situations we experience.

So we learn to interact with the world around us through a form of transactional analysis where we employ our personality and our cognition to determine our responses. These responses are regulated by our life experience, the expectations placed on us, or by the pressure we put ourselves under. Where we are familiar with an experience and our personality can accommodate the risk to our delicate persona, we embrace it as wholesome and good. Where we perceive a threat, we feel anxious as our brain triggers the correct serotonin level to induce that empty hollow, heart pounding, and pulse racing feeling that warns us off.

 

So how does this actually work? If we are just body and mind as the humanists would argue, then the relationship between our mind and our body would determine our actions. We would have no more claim to being sentient than the dolphin. If all that we are is a series of chemical changes that occurs in our brain, triggering our reactions based on the memory of our prior experiences, then why do we care about justice? If our brain responds to our reactions but it doesn’t feel what our bodies feel, then how are we to know what is right or what is wrong? 

 

Christians believe that our mind and bodies contain a soul… that human nature is a combination of our soul and our bodies working in union to correlate our emotional experiences with physical actions. To this end, we also possess a moral compass that helps us determine between what is wholesome and good and that which is destructive and bad.

 

However, our brain can’t feel… so what causes us to experience emotions such as fear or anxiety? We react to physiological, chemical and neurological signals in the brain which we interpret with a variety of filters or perceptions of fear that we have buried deep within our being. What helps us to interpret these perceptions of danger? When we recognise danger or a threat, our bodies are pre-conditioned by our brain to react as we choose fit. How do we determine what is a threat?

 

Our brain releases a series of chemicals that raises our heartbeat, quickens our breathing and tenses our muscles, placing us in a state of alert. We are put into a psychological position which we know today as fight or flight. Our assessment of the threat we might be exposed to, is a process of cognition, but how good are we at determining the level of risk to us? Which of our reactions are autonomous and which are cognitive? How does our mind precondition our bodies to inform our decision making?

If we learn certain behaviours in response to sets of circumstances, then we may find it difficult to alter our responses in favour of a more desirable action, when we see the deficiencies that exist within our original reaction.

Cognitive therapies can help us to learn new behaviours through building up our resilience in dealing with the circumstances that have triggered our initial response. We can learn to transform our behaviour and remove points of friction. We are often fighting against the hypothalamus, which triggers our fight of flight responses, by releasing adrenaline into our blood scheme. This then triggers our body’s natural administration of a cocktail of hormones that prepares our mind and our bodies to deal with the perception of threat. When this does not work, we can use medication to relieve our anxiety. Christians believe however, that our mind is renewed through the transformation of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to change our perspective of life's challenges and maintain a better balance in our reasoning.

So where do feelings such as anticipation or reaction originate? There are many of us who experience seemingly irrational phobias that debilitate us and there are also those who experience enjoyment from fear. Where we enjoy the adrenalin rush our body induces when watching horror movies or when riding a roller coaster. Some people seek ever more thrilling experiences from bungee jumping to skydiving and extreme sports. But are we not more than just natural stimulant junkies?

When we are unable to process the natural balance of our brain chemistry, we can seek to manage this through a variety of medications to block the receptors of the various hormones and the adrenalin that our bodies naturally dispense. It is always difficult to find the correct balance between our brain chemistry and our perception of danger, when our ability to process the demands of our lives have become disjointed. Where our perspective of life has become skewed, we can perceive danger or anxiously sense fear where none exists. This irrational thinking would point immediately perhaps to unresolved issues with the way we process the information our senses have gathered, or to an imbalance with our brain chemistry that would trap us in our fear.

From a psychological perspective, we could be dealing with issues for any number of thought processes that have become corrupted through our social interactions and our perception of self. Christians would tentatively suggest that these feelings of disconnection with our surroundings is part of the condition brought about by our separation from God.

We were designed to be in relationship with God at creation but due to our rebellion against the instruction he left for us, we were banished from paradise and have to work the land as part of the punishment for our indiscretion. Our experience of the different seasons, with its plenty at harvest times and fallow in the winter, reinforces the hardship that we experience, in order for us to identify what we truly want out of life.

So we continue to pursue the desires of our hearts through experiences, to bring meaning and fulfilment to our lives, particularly when times are hard. We try to maintain our sense of identity and have a sense of purpose because without it, we would be lost. Many of us have interests in the arts, humanities and sciences that require reasoned responses to often complex issues that form the basis of each discipline. We then use these to help us interact with the known world in order to give it meaning. 

Humanity prides itself on its ability to move forward in its understanding of the natural world. We live in a secular society free from religious interference, where man’s ingenuity has enabled those of us who live in the developed world, to enjoy a leisure based lifestyle where manual labour exists only for those that choose it, within some kind of utopian ideal.

So when we see pictures of horror in the news from war and disease to famine and drought we are inspired to offer a donation for the work of the charity that is directly involved in offering support, from the relative comfort of our arm chair. Some of us even go on trips to build schools, visit orphanage’s or provide clean water to crisis locations, before returning to the relative safety of our ordinary lives. Some of us choose vocations that serve the needs of people rather than in the support of commerce and financial gain.

These actions display the diversity of the human condition and it makes me wonder how, if our bodies are just a collection of neurons and chemicals that respond to our environment, we are all drawn into the types of occupations or areas of service that we are engaged with? Why, when we feel trapped by the situations we are in; where the hardships that we face each day trap us in un-happiness, do we dream of another life… a different life… a better life?

It is because we were designed for more. 

When we have the correct orientation of who we are and what we are to be, then we are able to endure all that life throws at us and to live it with passion. When we have the correct orientation with God, we suddenly recognise that we are more than the sum of our parts rather, we are ambassadors for God. When we know that we are not in self-serving occupations but in partnership with Jesus and his church, then we will have a sense of belonging that transcends all that this life offers. God calls us out from the ordinary and the everyday so that we might choose to live for him. Transformed by our encounter with God, we are better able to deal with the everyday because we are doing his work.

 

You might be a refuse operative, collecting the rubbish in the pouring rain. The stench of the decomposing trash on your clothing and the pace by which your bosses have told you to collect the refuse, means that you are running behind the truck grabbing the waste and flinging it into the back of the open hopper. You are hot, sweating, moaned at by passing motorists who think they have had to sit behind you for far too long because you seem to be moving too slowly. Coupled with the early mornings, low pay and the physical nature of the work, is it any wonder that you might hate it. But then, in hindsight, you do have a job and the pay is regular… of more importance to the Christian, is that God honours those who honour him through their work life. Honouring our employers with a fair day’s labour also honours our God who calls us to be his representatives on earth. In doing so, we are blessed, particularly if we have opportunity to express to others why we work as we do.

 

The apostle Paul spoke often of the inheritance that we receive through accepting Jesus into our lives. Many of the Jews and the Gentiles he talked to were not Roman citizens and so were in a kind of limbo with their identity and their sense of belonging in the land that they dwelt. Roman citizenship provided the protection of the empire, with all of the benefits of the law. Those non-Roman citizens were considered to be alien or slave and were certainly not free to do what they wished. Bound by regulation, the way that business was conducted and the forms of etiquette used, many were frustrated by their position in society.

As the Messiah, Jesus ushered in a new spiritual kingdom… one where the captives would be set free and the righteousness of God would bring justice and peace. Just as the robber who hung on the cross next to Jesus was offered a place in paradise, we too are offered the citizenship of the kingdom of God as co-heirs. We are adopted into Gods family and so become sons and daughters of the living God who came to rescue humanity from itself. No longer would humanity need to accept the overbearing nature of the etiquette of society and the hierarchy of status. Those who accept Jesus as their saviour are heirs to a kingdom based on Godly foundations.

This assurance meant that the early Christians were able to endure a huge amount of persecution because their hearts and minds were not responding to the fear of men, but in the hope of an eternal life, given as a free gift to all who call on Jesus for their salvation. Those early Christians knew that no human law or regulation could prevent them from experiencing the love of God. Many felt overjoyed at being emotionally and spiritually released from the oppression of an occupation by a ruthless and overbearing Roman army. The people also felt released from the oppression of the religious leaders who overwhelmed the Jews with temple rules and demands on their pocket.

 

We experience the same forms of oppression in our everyday experiences. Whether it be an employer or government official, those in authority can give an impression that we are subservient to their demands, believing that they can tells us what they want us to do, however unreasonable. We can look for justice and find none, we can look for an end to tyranny but find no peace. Only when we look beyond ourselves, will we be able to align body and soul to a better place.

Many scientists are in pursuit of discounting the God factor. Current thinking amongst the intellectuals is that the universe is so old that it transcends time and space… it has always existed and when it didn’t exist, we had nothingness. Out of the nothingness, came something, and that this something became the universe as we experience it today. So in essence, today’s scientists are saying no more than what our ancestors believed about the creation of the world. The account in Genesis 1 states that the world was without form and the spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters (v2). The water was an ancient metaphor used to separate the domain of God from our own existence. Into that emptiness, God said ‘let there be light.’

The author of the account of creation that we find in Genesis, believed by many to be Moses, was not a celebrated scientist or great philosopher. He was a leader of men who knew the heart of God and through whom God inspired to record the story of the beginning of civilization. The story is told so that out of the nothingness, we may find purpose. That man’s purpose was to fill the earth with the glory of God’s creation, men and women, so that we would all experience a symphony of life that revealed God’s true nature. Isn’t that what we all desire… a sense of belonging and connectedness that goes beyond our physical nature; to draw out meaning for our lives and our very existence?

Unfortunately, God’s plan for humanity was corrupted in the creation account by a fallen angel who thought himself greater than God. It is this same essence that is alive in each one of us today. We believe that we are stronger, wiser and better, than a superstitious belief in an unexplained deity whom we cannot see or hear. A deity who is disproved by modern science, and in whose existence we have outgrown. There are two great lines in the Avengers movie that cement the idea of our perception of how we view God. One is where Loki is stating that humanity is beneath his God-like status, to which the Hulk pulverises him. Then there’s the earlier Captain America quote: ‘There’s only one God Ma’am and he certainly doesn’t dress like that.’

Just as the fictional character Loki felt that he had grown beyond the shackles that his ethnicity and parenting had bound him, so we too seek assurance that we have become more than our ancestors.

We see many distinguished scientists, philosophers, politicians, despots, dictators, organisations and institutions making claims that they have learned all that there is to learn and know all there is to know.

 

These different factions grow so powerful that there can be a sense that there are no limits to what is achievable. In the UK, our media institutions, politicians and the security services have all been found complicit in a form of ‘information theft’ through covert surveillance. The information was not collected legally, nor was its use sanctioned by those it was taken from. These organisations believing that they had the moral authority to collect the information make themselves above the law, leaving them exposed for all to see their true nature.

Humanity proves again and again that left to its own checks and balances, it is unable to maintain an integrity that we can trust. So we find ourselves back in that place of irrational fear and fight or flight. That is why many people place their faith in God through the God we see in creation and the God who came to earth in the form of a man called Jesus. We can get to know Jesus because his humanity reveals the heart of God for his creation. Jesus says: ‘Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:38, NLT) Jesus says that he is the living water of life and that any who drink from his cup, would never thirst. Jesus also says that he is the bread of life that any who eat with him and remain in him, will find life.

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35, NLT) and “Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." (John 4:14, NLT) or from the Old Testament we have Isaiah prophesying 600 years before Jesus was born, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 51:1, NLT)

This free gift of living water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit which was poured out for all to receive at Pentecost (Acts 2). Jesus’ life marked the beginning of a new covenant between God and humanity through the death of his son. Jesus died so that the separation between God and his creation could be restored. This is why at times, we don’t experience God; we are headed in an opposite direction. Jesus points us back to the Father through his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus speaks to us all when he says believe in me and you are trusting in the Father also: ‘Jesus shouted to the crowds, "If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me.” (John 12.44, NLT)

So we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts to reveal the love of God to us through the life of his son. The Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and our minds: there is no need to fear; there is nothing that will happen to us that God hasn’t already foreseen and made provision for. We are filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can do God’s work in this world; bringing peace and justice to the darkness that seeks to corrupt that which God made pure. Jesus sends his spirit so that we will not be alone and can endure the various attacks of the enemy that cause us to fear. The Holy Spirit brings true freedom from the shackles that bind us and releases us into a new life, deposited with a deep reassurance that we are citizens of God’s kingdom and are adopted into his family. The Holy Spirit fulfils that desire which is found in each one of us for reassurance and hope.
 

The Holy Spirit heals old wounds and enables us to break free from habitual patterns in our lives that cause us pain. He releases us into new forms of self-expression that only his Spirit can reveal. Where our minds and bodies have been corrupted by the sin in our lives, the Holy Spirit gently draws alongside us and reveals how we can change our nature into one that is wholesome. He does this in relationship with us and his gentleness is like that of a good friend who knows us better than we know ourselves. The Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we truly belong to God and is a constant source of strength when we are weak.

God has a ‘doing’ plan for our lives. Through the Holy Spirit, we can understand the demands of our journey so that we would no longer dwell in the injustice of our situation but rise above the ordinary, seeking out the beauty of his grace in all situations. When we can be trusted with the small things, then quite naturally, through our faithful obedience to his will, reading the Bible, listening to his voice in prayer and by being available, we will find that the bigger things in life are not so hard and our perspective of the way that we view the world, may not seem so cruel.

In this place we can truly feel safe, protected, and secure. When God is for us, who can stand against us? This is not an arrogant boast, rather one that is based on the experiences I have had of my walk with the father. I see people everyday struggle with their own mind, their security in who they are, the pressure to conform to the demands of this world, and my heart goes out to them. I pray that all of us get to know the Father whose son Jesus came into our world as a baby and through his humanity, understands my every need, hope, and dream. He stands before us and beckons us in to the comfort of his embrace. In that place, all of our pain and hurt is poured out. No longer do we need to mask our true nature… no longer do we need to bottle it all in like a poison corrupting our soul. Only Jesus can wipe away our tears, remove our shame and set us on our feet again.
 

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can change; and the wisdom to know the difference. (The serenity prayer)

 

This is my God, who everyday picks me up off the floor and sets me on the journey that he has mapped out for me. St. Peter tells us that for a time, we may have to endure all sorts of obstacles. Our faith in the security that God provides is tested so that we can know it to be true for ourselves. This encourages us to complete our journey, dependent on his power, rather than accept the life that this world offers, which is corrupted and leads to our destruction. Choose life, choose it today; put aside your fear and doubt; ask God to reveal himself to you through the resurrection of his son Jesus to new life and through the baptism of the Holy Spirit to restore your soul.

 

If you have made this step today, I welcome you into God’s family and ask that the Lord bless you and keep you safe. I pray that you experience his peace that is greater than any you have known before. I pray that the Holy Spirit fills you to overflowing so that you cannot contain it. I pray that you experience a touch from the father that brings life and freedom from whatever bonds hold you and that you seek out the truth through studying the Bible and joining a church community that you feel comfortable in.

 

God bless you.