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Name: Jamey
Country: United States
Metro: Roanoke
Gender: Male
Interests: hermeneutics, exegesis, metaphysics, epistemology, quantum physics, motorcycles, antiquity,
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
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Member Since:
10/2/2005
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| Aristotle and the MysteryMy Christianity for many years has not been very 'distinct' from the theism of Aristotle. Aristotle gave several arguments for the existence of God. Aristotle concluded that the best thing a man can do with his life is to contemplate the First Cause. I have much respect for Aristotle. He was a brilliant scientist, a brilliant logician, and a great metaphysician. Given nature, Aristotle is about as good as it gets. Type in Aristotle on wikipedia and read the list of all the subjects he wrote on and the sciences he was a frontier in. We still speak in many Aristotelian phrases. Aristotle has had a great influence on us as Western culture. Aristotle is truly brilliant but his brilliance is natural.
I have debated many times over the necessity for natural theology in reference to 1 Corinthians 1. Paul says that Jesus is a stumbling block to the Jew and folly to the Greek. Many people take this to mean that Aristotle is irrelevant and that natural theology is irrelevant. Today, I have a better understanding of why they would conclude that.¹ I have recently been reading about the mystery of Christ. Paul references Christ as a mystery at climatical times in his writing. In 1 Cor. 2:6 Paul calls this a secret and mysterious wisdom. Paul also quotes from Isaiah 19 in these passages. The Old Testament prophesied about the coming mystery that would confuse the wise. In Ephesians 3 Paul says that God has made plain to us the mystery of his will. 1 Corinthians 4:1 Paul calls apostles "stewards of the mysteries of God." One especially beautiful place that the mystery is mentioned is in Ephesian 5:32 where Paul explains the mystery of Christ and his church. This is in reference to Jesus as second Adam and the failure of Adam to step between Eve and the serpent in the Garden but Jesus facing the effects of sin in place of his bride, his Eve, his Church that comes forth from his side in blood and in water. I could give several other examples of the mysteries of Christ that Paul explains in contrast to the wisdom of the world, but this will suffice for now.
'What is the mystery' is the question? It is in contrast to Judaism and Aristotelianism. Judaism was great at keeping the law and at wanting an earthly kingdom and Aristotlelianism concluded that life was about contemplating the First Cause with logical precision. The mystery of Christ is different than making an earthly kingdom, a good set of rules, and contemplating the First Cause with logical precision? What then is it? Our understanding of God changes everything. The Jews understood God as supporting Israel and they were right but God was supporting Israel in order to bless the whole world. They saw the support in contrast to the rest of the world. Aristotle understood God as all powerful and worthy of praise and Aristotle was right but God's power is in his service, in his giving, in his selflessness. Aristotle saw God as 'a' First Cause. He didn't know the beauty of the selfless nature of God that is found in the Holy Trinity. The mystery of the cross is this reality that God doesn't come to rule an earthly kingdom by power but he comes to serve those that humble enough to accept his love and then participate in his suffering. The mystery is that the all powerful is apparently weak. The mystery is that God doesn't tell us to wash his feet or tell us to die for his sake but he washes our feet and dies for our sake. The mystery of the cross is the same mystery as the mystery of the Trinity: selflessness.
It bothered me much that many of the reformers killed each other over the debate about social systems but understanding the mystery of the cross, I understand the debate a lot better. When we strive to gain a Christian society of power, whether through numbers, weapons, or rhetoric (which Paul also specifically condemns in 1 Corinthinas 1) we have missed the mystery of the cross. We have degraded the cross to the First Cause of Aristotle or the ethnocentric God of the Jews. Christ did not come to rule by power but by love and wisdom. This was also part of the Davidic covenant. This is also the story of the Old Testament that we so often misunderstand. Where God was making a remnant that understood love and wisdom, we were still cheering for a kingdom. We saw the climax of Israel in the kingdom of Solomon but we fail to see the kingdom of God getting closer in the martyrdom of Daniel. The climax of the kingdom of God is found in Jesus. Jesus did not come to make a kingdom that forced people to worship or even ruled by power and might. Jesus came to pour out himself.
When persecuted Christians flew persecution they follow the God of Judaism and the God of Aristotle but not the God of the mysteries of Jesus. We are to rejoice in our sufferings because that is where we participate in the mystery. This is why Paul explains his filling up what is lacking in Jesus in Col. 1:24. We are stewards of the mystery, the mystery of power through selflessness, wisdom, and love. This is why Christianity has such a focus on love. Love is selflessness because God is love and God is Trinity. This is why Christianity does not force itself on people, that would not be anti-mystery. Force is exactly what Aristotle's student Alexander was fond of. Force is what Solomon had in mind when he started an army going against the Davidic covenant. Christ comes and dies at the hands of power that were forceful and he explained to Pilate that his kingdom was not natural, it was not of this world. This world is found in Alexander and Solomon, but Jesus is found in selflessness: agape love. This is why the early church considered it a joy to be killed for their faith, they understood the mystery. They understood the participation. On this July 4th, I am proud that I grew up in a place where I am free to seek the truth but at the same time I recognize my ancestor's misunderstanding of the mystery. Where there is persecution we are to rejoice like Paul did, not run. This is also why the Greek language had to pull the general term for love out of retirement. Their love for one another was not about controlling one another with force but with serving one another and dieing for one another. They understood the mystery and the Greek language had no active word to describe it. They weren't like us modern Americans that are concerned with comfort, they were more concerned if they experienced too much comfort because the mysterious God that they worshipped did not experience comfort. Joy comes with participation in God's suffering, though. We may not be bouncy happy but we will have peace. It was that very peace that caused some of those that martyered the early Christians to join them on their rafts as they were floating away burning and singing to the God they were imitating.
Lord,
I am humbled at the thought of your mysterious selflessness
You are not a God of force,
You are not a God that came to establish a kingdom with guns and rhetoric but a God that came to heel wounds and wash feet.
Lord, I have misunderstood you for so long.
I have wanted comfort in place of suffering.
I have sought an easy life rather than peace.
I pray for healing not suffering.
I ask to be unlike you while peace is found in being like you.
Lord, forgive me for being a steward of the Aristotelian anti-mysteries and make me a steward of the Divine Mysteries.
Lord, allow me to suffer. Lord, I beg you to send Divine Participation my way.
May your mysterious kingdom come, may your will be done,
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
James S. Sturgill
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| My HairMy hair is longer than the average man's hair. I have not cut it in about 9 months. Several times I have had people confront me about my hair. Several of these people I have not seen in quite a while. In my first meeting with people I have not seen in quite a while, they confront me about my hair. This is certainly a minor issue but it is a minor issue that has major theological implications. I would like to outline some of these implications and give a defense for why I have long hair. I agree that the outward appearance is a reflection of the heart. My hair is a reflection of my heart. I want to explain.
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians he is addressing specific problems in the church. There are divisions in the church. Paul explains this in the first chapter. The rest of the book goes about addressing this problem. The church at Corinth had written Paul and wanted some answers. Hence Paul answers. There was a specific question about women wearing head coverings to church. Paul addresses this in chapter 11. Paul's answer is that other than what seems to be the case according to nature, which he gives in a rhetorical question implying the non-authoritative nature of the case, the church has no comment. Paul's letter to the Corinthians peaks in chapter 13. This is the famous chapter on love. Paul deals with some petty arguments that the church at Corinth had, and acknowledges them as petty, and then he answers them all with a the chapter on love. I love how Paul ends this wonderful letter, too. In Paul's final remark, even after his name (it would be like the part below you name on an email), he says, "if any one has no ove for the Lord, let him be accursed. (1 Corinthians 16:22) May I add that this agrees with 1 John 4 so well, too. Paul's ending and entire context of 1 Corinthians and 1 John 4 argue for love against petty differences.
Let me summarize, arguing about petty differences that the church really has no rules on is a demonstration of how the church at Corinth has missed the overarching love that Paul so beautifully writes of in 1 Corinthians 13. Women wearing head coverings is one of these, and in as a subsequent argument, hair in general.
I have long hair for this very purpose. I have a more ardent love for both my God and my neighbor now than ever before and I have long hair. Many Christians around me label themselves with the Corinthian problem when they confront me about my hair. In this confrontation, I desire to point out that they have missed the beauty of love and freedom that Christianity is about. Is this a loving desire? Yes, when we are so caught up in obeying rules that we miss love, it is love to wake someone up out of this slumber. This is exactly what Jesus did.
Jesus ministry was in your face. He came disobeying many rules of the Deuteronic covenant. The Deuteronic covenant was the covenant that replaced the Mosaic covenant. Deuteronomy means second law. Both covenants were to purify the chosen people so that they could become holy. After they were holy enough then they would be enabled to be missionaries to the rest of the world. After a long history of failing, and a remnant of Jews that recognized this, like Daniel, God made a new covenant, a covenant written on their hearts which came through Christ and the new covenant he instititued. Jesus point was that the Deuteronic covenant is now out. The covenant was made to purify Israel so that Israel could bless the world but now the Mosaic covenant will be written on our hearts. Jesus does not come to destroy the Mosaic covenant, he came to write the Mosaic covenant on our hearts. But the Mosaic coveant is not some arbitrary set of laws. The Mosaic covenant was the explanation of the character and nature of God. The Jews referred to and dressed the Mosaic law as if it were a person because it was a description of a person. Christ's ministry was showing this reality. He came to abolish the second law, the Deuteronic law, and the way he did this was to show his power and his disobedience. Jesus power made no sense to the Pharisees because they were still adhering to the Deuteronic covenant. Jesus must get his power from demons they said. The people couldn't believe that though, he wasn't destorying, he was fixing. How could he be from demons? I could give countless examples of this. Jesus disobeys the peculiarities of the Sabbath. Jesus disobeys the clean and unclean laws of the Deuteronic covenant. Why? Doesn't he know that this will disturb the Pharisees and other believers? Yes, of course he knows, that is why he does it. Jesus breaks the law in order to show that it isn't the law any more. They couln't reconcile his breaking of the law and his power and thus they were forced to belive in one or the other. They chose to believe in their law. Jesus was killed for the sake of the law, the second law, the law that he came to complete.
Many times in 'churched' areas I hear explanations of people saying that they are doing good as, "I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I go to church most of the time." Especially in southwest Virginia this is the case. People are Christian by what they do not do. Even if this is not true in creed it seems to be true in deed because this is how the outsiders understand it. I have been on mission trips to 7 different countries. I taught Bible at an International Christian school and was considered a missionary. I am currently enrolled in seminary. I listen to lectures on theology for fun. Currently I have 35 different lectures on the Holy Spirit, the Apostle's Creed, and Apologetics on my Mp3 player. People that know me, know that I love learning about my God and they also know that I love being around people. Guess what? I have long hair, too. My long hair is a statement that Christianity is more than fitting a certain look. I want people to be confused when they know that I love God and have long hair if they think the two have to go together. Jesus wanted the Pharisees to be confused that having the power of God and going against the Deuteronic covenant were going together. I want to be like Jesus, thus I attempt to confound Pharisees with my hair.
Lord,
Make me like Jesus,
Help me to take the judgement and offer it up as sacrice, as a means of knowing you more
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be done,
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
James S. Sturgill
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| The Bible Through the Eyes of A Techno-holicWould you agree we live in a techno-holicl age? Is it not true that the newest piece of technology is extremely desired by nearly everyone? Do we not judge goodness by how technologically advanced we are? At the school I taught at in Korea, our parents were not too bothered by the increased tuition due to the advancing technology of 'Smart Boards.' At the church I attended in Korea, we, me included, were all excited about getting a 'new' sound system and projector. We love our new easy more advanced ways of doing things. If I can get quicker, easier access to something then it is better. Have you ever been around most houses at Christmas time? So many gadgets and technological advancements.
While it is true that we invent, make, and buy these technological advancements, it is also true that they in turn make us. They make us less patient and less determined. We then begin to see things that are quick and less stressful as better. We no longer understand that there is more meaning in more time and that there is more pride in more determination. I know this because I am this way. I am a part of the microwave generation. I love the microwave. I want my hunger satisfied, now, not in 30 minutes and surely not in an hour.
Looking at salvation history, the process of God's love through the ages, God is not into microwaves. God took many many years to accomplish his will in his people. This was actually no fault of God but of man's will. Man's will is stubborn and thus slow. The same author of salvation history is the author of the Bible and the same men that were slow and stubborn are the same men, in nature, that read the Bible today. The Bible is not a microwave. It is not a book of magic spells that cures sickness and allows people to make money. It is not a book that extinguishes pain with a simple reading. The Bible is a profound book. The Bible is a book that is to be contemplated. A book that is to be pondered. A book that is to be read in context to its readers, its writers, and its purposes. The Bible is not a quick fix.
What happens when we view the Bible as a quick fix? Why is it that salvation history took so long? Because man is stubborn, prideful, and normally finds what he wants and not what is best for him. What happens when techno-holics approach the Bible? They get a quick fix and that quick fix was probably exactly what they were looking for, but not what the Bible, God, was wanting to give them. I have been reading several different Bible commentaries today. I have been reading them from several different denominations. It is amazing how theologians can make a Scripture say what they believe when it is so obvious that this was not what the Scriptures were saying. We find what we want in the Bible many times. When we add our techno-holic-ness to this, we end up finding a quick fix that is most likely heretical and not only that but quick fixes go away. We are like the fat man that eats snacks all day. They are quick fixes. We are like the person who cut their arm off but only takes pain medicine. We use the Bible as a quick fix not as a wholistic lifestyle.
J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings, in an interview explained that the ring was a symbol for technology. Technology has much power but the power turns on you. I have heard many Christians confess that their ability to truly think on something is almost non-existent. Most Christians that I have met have very little desire to figure out what the Bibles means. Very few walk around pondering how two different portions of Scripture go together. We don't really want what is best, we want a technological quick fix, so that is what we turn the Bible into.
Lord,
Purge us from our poor understanding of your word,
Give us patience at whatever cost that may be,
Help us to move beyond the tendencies of our microwave generation,
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done,
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
James S. Sturgill
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| Covenants and Assurance and GraceA nightly scene at my house during my childhood was me crying in my mom and dad's bedroom explaining that I didn't know if I was really saved. This was a nightly scene and a nightly scene that went on from the age of 7 to 13. That is 6 long years. I would go to church and the pastor would say, "if you are not 100% sure that you are going to Heaven then you are going to Hell." I would say the prayer there and then probably once on the hour every hour afterward. The pastor would also explain that dying was not the only thing to be afraid of but the rapture could also happen at any moment. This added an altogether new fear in me. I remember standing at the foot of my parents bed nearly nightly with tears rolling down my cheeks saying, "but mommy, I don't think I meant it." My mom and dad really had no answers for me because I was simply being true to what the pastor was preaching. As a senior in high school, I went to visit the pastor to tell him that I wasn't 100% sure. His response was that he knew I was saved because my attendance at so many of the church's events was the evidence that I was saved. He explained that no one unsaved would be so faithful. I remember leaving just as unsure as when I got there. Then the final time I talked with someone out loud was when I was a sophomore at Liberty University. A speaker explained that most people will not get saved because they have been in church too long and are too proud. Still doubting my heart in regards to 'meaning' the prayer, I went forward again in front of all of my Liberty friends to get saved. When I went back to talk to my 'decision helper,' he prayed the prayer with me as a means of nailing it down but wasn't convinced that I was lost. I lived a stressful life for many years because I didn't believe that I meant the prayer when I prayed it. I knew that I had a bad heart. I knew that I wasn't pure in my meaning. I knew that my belief wasn't 100% but everyone else seemed to claim that they knew my heart was pure. There is more to this story but this is enough for today, I only want to explain how bad theology led to this problem. I was correct in not being able to trust in my own meaning. There was good reason for my lack of belief in myself. John Piper's explanation of St. Augustine's City of God finally freed me. Piper explained his own testimony in reference to St. Augustine as, "I love God more now than ever before," and not as, "in 1982 I prayed the prayer." Augustine told me to cultivate my love for God by knowing God. This pushed me down a great theological journey of learning and loving. A learning and loving that has given me the ability to look back on my past and be thankful for the stress but also realize why it happened. It happened because my/our theology was existential not Biblical.¹
The Bible is a story of God's relationship with man. The amazing thing about this story is that God establishes covenant oaths with man. He establishes these covenant oaths via representatives for man, too: Adam, Noah, Abram, Moses, David, and finally Jesus. The crazy thing about this is that God stoops down to put himself in a covenant with man. Man is not climbing up to God, God is stooping down to man. Without an understanding of this story, proof-texting theology, moral theology, and existential trust in one's own meaning is necessary. With this covenental understanding, Biblical cohesion, profound exegesis, and true humility is possible. The toladote (Hebrew word for genealogy) is not simply the part of the Bible you have to make it through in your Bible reading, the toladote is extremely important because it shows the covenant lineage. The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament can then be seen as the same God. The humans mistrust in God and desire for blessings in their understanding of blessings is seen as the difference. Christ came to write the law on our hearts only after a remnant realized that they couldn't do it on their own. A covenental understanding of the Bible, salvation history, makes the Bible come alive.
In reference to my above testimony the covenant is huge. God establishes covenants with man. Man doesn't have to worry about his sincerity or the perecentage of his meaning. Man doesn't have to trust in himself. Man trusts in the promises of God in his oath swearing. God told Abraham to circumsize as his part of the oath. God tells Moses and to put the blood over the door. God tells tells David what to do as a king. God stoops down and gives man a proposal. What if Abraham was hesitant to circumcise himself? What if he didn't really want to? What if one of the Hebrews in Egypt panted the blood on the door without really believing it? God keeps his promises. If God promises that he will bless us if we circumcise ourselves, then it doesn't matter what your attitude while circumcising yourself is, God keeps his end of the deal. He doesn't ask for an existential self belief, he asks for belief in his promise. If God promises to pass over your house if you paint the blood on the door and eat the lamb, it doesn't matter if you really wanted to paint it in a different color or if you wanted to eat chicken that night, it only matters that you did it, because God keeps his promises. He doesn't require you to believe in yourself. God's promise continues in spite of your intentions. If God would promise to give you a million dollars if you said I love you, is all you have to do is say it and the million dollars is yours. God keeps his promises. For 20 years of my life, I couldn't believe in myself and I was correct in not being able to but no one could give me the reality that God keeps his promise regardless of my intentions. So what does God promise?
I never understood the fact that the great commission was so adament about baptism: baptism was only a sign. Why would it be so important? Why did Mark 16:16 add Baptism to belief? Why didn't it simply say belief? This was an important text, this was the sending out. Why did Peter, at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, say,
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:38 - 39)
Why did he include baptism in repentance? Because God promised! If a person trusts God they will take part in his promise. As circumsion, as blood on the doorpost, as following the Davidic covenant, Baptism was God's promise. If one repents and trust God then they will follow through by taking God up on his promise. Does their heart have to be 100% pure? Do they have to have 100% good intentions? Of course not, they simply have to take God up on his promise. It like bringing a coupon to the counter. God sent coupons. God said be baptized and I promise to remove sin. Baptism is God's promise. Baptism is not the end though. Baptism is the beginning.²
There is a reason why I finally found security in St. Augustine's City of God, Augustine was explaining to me the truth of holiness. I couldn't buy the belief of my own perfect intentions but I could fall more in love with the God of creation, the Jesus of the Bible. Now, looking back, I see why I struggled for so many years with my assurance. I was attempting to trust me and not God. Everyone around me was telling me to trust me, to believe my intentions and heart were pure when I said the prayer, but I knew they weren't. My heart didn't have to be perfect though, God gave a coupon. You don't have to want to support the overall goodness of the store in order to use a coupon, a coupon is a promise. You only have to believe that the store will follow through on its promise.
I don't wish that my life would have been different. I am wonderfully thrilled to figure out that I don't have to trust in my own intentions, in my own purity of heart. I simply trust in God's covenant. After I trust in God's covenant and be baptized then I cultivate my love for God. Then when I die, my soul will be in the presence of the God of which I have cultivated my love for via his means of grace. The God that stooped down and made a covenant with me. A God that should have punished us sinful humans for not keeping our end of the covenant in Adam, in Noah, in Abram, in Moses, in David but rather than punish us for not keeping the covenant he gave a new covenant through his son. This new covenant doesn't require purity of heart and perfect intentions, it requires the faith in God to accept his covenant. God's covenant comes in the form of instruments of grace (of which I will write about later). God promises to give grace. God swears an oath with man.
For so long I attempted to love grace, but I don't think I really believed grace. I really believed my own efforts. I started realizing that existence was grace and that everything is grace and then I started realizing that God gives us instruments of grace: sacraments. All who don't trust in their own works will seek out these instruments.
I will attempt to put this in a materialistic illustration. God is like a father that wants his children to have money to buy things for him but they have no means of working. God promises his children that he will put money in a cookie jar and in a sock drawer. Several children are working hard at cleaning the house but they aren't trusting the Father. Several children are telling other people that they trust in the Father ultimately but they neither visit the cookie jar nor the sock drawer and thus they have no means of buying things for the dad they love. Many of these children that scrub the floor and that clean the windows claim that it is all for the Father, all while ignoring his instuctions about the cookie jar and sock drawer. I want to get up off my knees and visit the sock drawer. I want to get down from my ladder and visit the cookie jar.
Looking back and realizing that God promised to forgive my sins via baptism has been wonderfully freeing but it is not only a hindsight. I am also able to look forward and understand that the covenantal God of Baptism is also the covenantal God of the bread and the wine and other instruments of grace. God not only gave an oath for the forgiveness of man's inability to fullfill their end of the covenant, he also gave an oath for the means of grace that enables one to truly offer good gifts to the Father: namely themselves full of grace. It is not by cleaning the floors and washing the windows that we earn money. It is not by self-righteous Bible reading and self-righteous witnessing that we earn grace. It is by going to the cookie jar and the sock drawer that we receive money. It is by taking part in the sacraments that we receive grace. It is so ironic to me that those who claim to believe that works don't get them to heaven, are scrubbing the floor so furiously. It is so ironic to me that those who claim to love the Bible are missing the very point of the Bible. How can we love the book that tells us about God's coupons and never use the coupons?
Lord,
Make us humble enough to get up from our knees and down from our ladders
Help us to visit your cookie jar and your sock drawer.
Lord, I thank you for the freedom found in your truth.
Lord, make me selfless as you are selfless
Lord allow me to take part in the love of the Trinity.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
James S. Sturgill
- This is not to say that the Bible is not existential in some places. It is to say that the Bible is not existential in reference to salvation history which is the main story of the Bible.
- It is important to note here that trust in God is what makes one be baptized and thus have their sins washed away. God is still perfectly just. The theif on the cross certainly trust in God and thus would have been baptized had he known. God knows this. However, I do not know my intentions. I do not trust my own heart. I will take part in the promise, the coupon if you will, that God has sent. Some may be saved without baptism. Some may get a discount without the coupon but God does give an assurance via baptism, he does send coupons. The Old Testament is a testament to this reality, too. Those that were circumcised were not the only ones to receive blessings. Many non-Jews are in the Davidic line.
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| Where is the Sin BarrierA conversation with a troubled friend gave me a better understanding of the sin barrier. My friend was explaining a breakup with a woman he loved. He had cheated on her and afterward he was unable to accept her love. She continued loving him the same but his guilt from cheating wouldn't allow him to accept her love. Her love never changed, but his ability to accept it, due to his sin, did change. Many people explain salvation as Christ's removal of the sin barrier. This barrier applies to both born again people and those that aren't born again. Is this sin barrier a book where our sins are written down? Is this barrier a wall between us and God? Well, it is, kinda. The wall is built out of our guilt and we do usually write down most of our sins on it. God's love never changes. He loves us just as much when we sin as when we don't sin but we are unable to accept his love when our guilt is blocking us from God. In a sense we create a Matrix. Sin is somewhat phenomenological. We create a false reality because of our sin. The true reality is that God loves us always and that everything that exists sings his love song written to us but when we have sinned our guilt won't let us hear it.
Is this a conscious act? Sometimes but not always. Sometimes we have sinned for so long that we don't remember the true reality. We are locked into the Matrix. We only see the world through the dog eat dog world that we have created. We see selfish thieves and not singing trees. We see abuse and not love. We lose our wonder and gain boredom. Our Matrix is boring but God's reality is amazing. My friend that explained this story to me probably wouldn't have been able to explain it that way during the middle of the problem. It was only in hindsight that he was able to see so clearly that his guilt couldn't accept her love. I think this is the way we are most of the time, too. We will be able to see this reality more clearly in hindsight than at the moment. A close self examination should bring this to light. Paul gives a picture of this in 2 Corinthians 13. He asks them to examine themselves and then he says that he hopes they pass but not only to appear as though they pass but so that they may do what is right. Paul explains failing the test as being unable to do what is right and passing the test as being able to do what is right. A couple of verses before Paul asks the rhetorical question, "Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?"
As a basketball player and coach I experienced this, often. When a player dwells on their last mistake, they are unable to play well from that point on. Their guilt or depression messes up the rest of their game. If you have attended a game you have probably heard a coach or fan yell, "shake it off." That is what Paul is yelling in 2 Corinthians. He is saying, "shake it off, we need you to do what is right." Paul even ends the chapter with an explanation of tomorrows practice. He says, "I pray for your improvement....so that at practice tomorrow I won't have to be too severe."
So what do we do? Wouldn't it be great if God sent someone to "fill up what is lacking in his afflictions"¹ and tell us that we are forgiven? Wouldn't it be great if God instituted real physical people to come in his stead and tell us that he loves us even though we sin and then tell us ways that we can get out of our created Matrix of guilt? Wouldn't it be great if God still sent Pauls that were praying for our improvement? Wouldn't that be a gracious idea?
Lord,
Help us break from our Matrix of guilt and accept your unchanging love
Your Kingdom Come
Your Will be done
In Jesus Name
Amen.
James S. Sturgill
- Col. 1:24
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