Life is just lousy, nothing we do ever seems to work out right and even when we get things going pretty well, wham... it all falls apart again. We think if only we could get things right, maybe... finally... get things together we'll be what we should be. Success just depends on hitting the right notes in that song of life, and our tune is just off-key and we know it. Sometimes it seems like the Devil is playing with us. Or worse.. maybe God has just plain forgotten us.
We keep up the facade sometimes... put on the mask, just like going to a Halloween party where everyone dresses up pretending they are something they are not. At the party it is fun, but when the evening is over it is just memories of what once was. It is even a bit weird to keep wearing those costumes and it becomes obvious to others who see it. The deceptions, the denials, the fakeness and superficiality are all little escapes from reality that sooner or later come to an end. And why all the posing and pretense? Because we want to look good.
So what is it that makes us feel so down? When we pull off that mask and look in the mirror what is seen is a person with some flaws.. or a lot of flaws. Everyone wants to think they are perfect, or nearly so, and a little deception makes us think we aren't so bad. Some people are very good at lying to themselves, they just never look in that mirror of truth. Ever have a very stinky mangy dog walk up to you? It just wants to play and get attention and you just want to get away from it. People who ignore the truth about themselves are like that... and we are all like that dog. Deny it if we want to but we know it's true.
Somewhere deep down in us something just tugs at us. That little thing about knowing right from wrong. You want to do the things that are right but you do the things that are wrong. It's like these "rules of the universe" we seem to think exist, whether we believe there is a God or just a god... or maybe just some force out there... well... okay... and even if we don't believe there is any superior being out there at all the universe does seem to have all these rules and laws of physics and other technical things that sound rather... uhmmm... orderly.
Hey, you drop an egg on the ground and the thing breaks because of some stupid Law of Gravity. Cause and effect. If the egg wasn't dropped it wouldn't break... at least if it wasn't a fertilised egg... some little chick will crack it open to get out... but that's not Gravity at least.
From the Heidelberg Catechism's Lord's Day 2 we have 3 questions;
Question 3. Whence knowest thou thy misery?
Answer. Out of the law of God.
Question 4. What doth the law of God require of us?
Answer. Christ teaches us that briefly, Matt. 22:37-40, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Question 5. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?
Answer. In no wise; for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor.
Where do we know right from wrong? From rules and laws. Whether it is written down or written in our hearts we know morality exists. Sometimes we like to define our morality ourselves, the old what is right for one is wrong for another idea, better known as moral relativism. Somehow we know about that orderliness in the universe.
In any wise, this whole "knowing right from wrong" stuff does get a person down a bit when they realise they just aren't up to those standards. Sometimes it even wrecks our lives or causes all sorts of terrible things in our lives. And sometimes it isn't our own "errors" that bring that about but someone else's rule breaking. The 10 Commandments in the Bible are often referred to as the "Law"...
Exodus 20:2-17
(1) "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me.
(2) "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
(3) "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
(4) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
(5) "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
(6) "You shall not murder.
(7) "You shall not commit adultery.
(8) "You shall not steal.
(9) "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
(10) "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."
This is how Christ summed them as we read in Mat 22:37-40 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
Easy enough to see that if those rules get broken it can lead to some misery for someone, if not everyone, and just looking over that list can any of us say we have kept those rules and not broken any of them? We might have hurt ourselves or hurt someone else... and we aren't even talking about any god yet! If we hate people enough to be mean to them we must hate God too. Our despicable little human nature is just a bit warped, we hurt friends of friends... uhmm... might as well be hurting your own friend right? Okay, some are so warped they hurt their own friends... but isn't that telling us something? Hey, we go against that "orderliness in the universe"!
The Heidelberg questions and answers come from public domain documents.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
How worthless are you?
If the things you do are a measure of how much you are worth, then the answer must be at a minimum... not much. Unless your an expert, then you make fewer mistakes, so you'd be worth a bit more but still not much. You did a great job on something so you must be worth a lot more, or you get paid a lot of money, or is it fame... well, that's all a bit deceiving because when you die either someone else gets your stuff or it is thrown out with the trash. Oh that's got to hurt... your life's work gone in the trash.
Be honest, all the self esteem stuff that goes around doesn't make anyone any happier. Some might be delusional and think they have it made and thus are happy. Some of the richest and most famous people are the most miserable, constantly trying to get approval from others by appearing to be something they are not. How many people seek out self improvement and self help? It's a popular subject that produces a lot of books and speakers who want to tell you that you are worth something.
Do you have an education? Sure... you could say the value is how much you spent on education, but then if you learnt how to design transistor radios your education might be a bit... uhmmm... outdated... that's just a kind way of saying obsolete.. and unless your vintage enough to be collectible it is safe to say not worth much.
And as we know, obsolete means scrap value is about all you'll get from recycling. The chemicals that comprise your body are probably worth about One dollar and the hide (your skin) is worth maybe Four dollars, but with the price of commodities always fluctuating so the average person might be worth between Three and Five dollars.
But what are you worth to God? Or some would say is there even a "god"... so then what is your value? If there is no "god" then your value and worth is rather vague, but could be summed up in what was mentioned above about chemicals and education, status, etc.
From the Heidelberg Catechism's Lord's Day 1 we have 2 questions;
Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.
Question 2. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?
Answer. Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
What do these questions and answer say? Does it not speak to our fears of self worth when we ask what our comfort is in this life.... that is.. what is it we treasure in our day to day life? As it is said, where our treasure is that is where our heart is. Our yearnings and desires to be accepted and approved of, to be wanted. If our heart has been moved to believe that we do belong to God then no longer is our worth on what we regard as valuable things that simply perish, are stolen, rust away, or sold off. That a God would pay for our failures and preserve us from destruction speaks to our value and worth.
But to be valued we must also see our own worthlessness in our sins and misdeeds. And often we see only our failures and mistakes, believing ourselves to be worthless and without value at all. Some will seek to fill that with psychological manipulations or with smooth talking motivational speakers that feed the soul with a bread that does not last. Again we go hungry and become tired when the weight of humanness bears down again.
It is when we see our sins for what they are and hear of the forgiveness of those sins through what Christ's death accomplished that are we set free from that burden. No longer are we worthless but bought with a price. We know what are worth and value truly are then, and no longer need to doubt and fear the ravages of decay. Christ has set us free, free from captivity. And in that freedom we can finally live to God's glory.
The Heidelberg questions and answers come from public domain documents.
Be honest, all the self esteem stuff that goes around doesn't make anyone any happier. Some might be delusional and think they have it made and thus are happy. Some of the richest and most famous people are the most miserable, constantly trying to get approval from others by appearing to be something they are not. How many people seek out self improvement and self help? It's a popular subject that produces a lot of books and speakers who want to tell you that you are worth something.
Do you have an education? Sure... you could say the value is how much you spent on education, but then if you learnt how to design transistor radios your education might be a bit... uhmmm... outdated... that's just a kind way of saying obsolete.. and unless your vintage enough to be collectible it is safe to say not worth much.
And as we know, obsolete means scrap value is about all you'll get from recycling. The chemicals that comprise your body are probably worth about One dollar and the hide (your skin) is worth maybe Four dollars, but with the price of commodities always fluctuating so the average person might be worth between Three and Five dollars.
But what are you worth to God? Or some would say is there even a "god"... so then what is your value? If there is no "god" then your value and worth is rather vague, but could be summed up in what was mentioned above about chemicals and education, status, etc.
From the Heidelberg Catechism's Lord's Day 1 we have 2 questions;
Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.
Question 2. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?
Answer. Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
What do these questions and answer say? Does it not speak to our fears of self worth when we ask what our comfort is in this life.... that is.. what is it we treasure in our day to day life? As it is said, where our treasure is that is where our heart is. Our yearnings and desires to be accepted and approved of, to be wanted. If our heart has been moved to believe that we do belong to God then no longer is our worth on what we regard as valuable things that simply perish, are stolen, rust away, or sold off. That a God would pay for our failures and preserve us from destruction speaks to our value and worth.
But to be valued we must also see our own worthlessness in our sins and misdeeds. And often we see only our failures and mistakes, believing ourselves to be worthless and without value at all. Some will seek to fill that with psychological manipulations or with smooth talking motivational speakers that feed the soul with a bread that does not last. Again we go hungry and become tired when the weight of humanness bears down again.
It is when we see our sins for what they are and hear of the forgiveness of those sins through what Christ's death accomplished that are we set free from that burden. No longer are we worthless but bought with a price. We know what are worth and value truly are then, and no longer need to doubt and fear the ravages of decay. Christ has set us free, free from captivity. And in that freedom we can finally live to God's glory.
The Heidelberg questions and answers come from public domain documents.
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