Part 2: Making the Mould - Relationships, Self-surrender, The world and the enemy.
Just to preface, I'll almost definitely make more parts to this... that's all.
In the Movie Doctor strange (*spoilers*... but not really), There is a point in the film where the main character (Doctor strange, of course) is having trouble putting his arrogance aside, and when he is trying to master the act of using a sling-ring (a device that is a portal through space). when he is given instructions on how to use this instrument, he says, "so I'm supposed to gain control by surrendering control? that doesn't make sense." In the grand scheme of the plot it seems inconsequential, but it's a pretty instrumental scene in showing his phycological journey, and showing us how his mindset progresses throughout the movie.
I think that surrendering control to gain control is quite integral to the Christian faith. Quite a lot of us do represent (if not externally) some internal arrogant characteristics. In a worldly sense, there are events we all know in our lives that are or have been driven by worldly desires or goals, for example, proving others wrong. Let's say, for instance, that you study for exams to prove others wrong for saying that you are unintelligent. That is and can be a healthy drive, but in terms of mental effort, it's like pushing a shopping cart up a slope: it's hard to keep motivated, and the reward almost never justifies the means, and if it does, it's short-lived. This is in the same way that if you've ever spent money on a gadget that you've spent a long time of anticipating, the excitement of gaining that gadget and being in possession of it is short lived. This is because after a while, as human beings we start to pursue the image or idea of a gift or reward. Some of us can pursue our goals whilst the means driving this fated pursuit is corrupt, and a lot of the time, it's not intentional. That is why when we often pursue a heartfelt event, such as comforting a loved one, that is purely built on that love for the other person, a positive drive, the reward of knowing that you have reached out and helped a friend rises out of a genuine act of humility.
Concerning the Christian life, this has a lot of differing aspects, so I'll try to address a few of them. So many of us sometimes pray (assuming you pray) prayers that on consideration are self-beneficial, which I believe is inherently fine. This can be quite dangerous however, as sometimes this is not God's plan for us and comes from a place of self-righteous ambition, sometimes without even realising, and therefore God does not have the immediacy of acting on it if he knows that it would not benefit us physically, spiritually, emotionally or in any other way. For example, if you pray to God, "Lord God, I pray that you make me Rich so that my life is easier.", and your mind is only set on the fact that you will be rich, you may overlook the fact that riches can be a curse: possibly alienating people you refuse to finance, fake friends in general, possible loneliness, self-consciousness, let alone the self-righteousness you may acquire from this wealth. God knows (in this hypothetical situation) that these things are able to destroy you, and therefore to protect you from that, may not answer your prayer. Then a lot of the time, we will hold resentment against God, and let our selfish vision of our prospected future narrow our perspective of the repercussions that may occur from the wish that you have granted.
I myself am an amateur chess player, and a trap I often fall into is a move that seems harmless and beneficial to the development of the game, but is a trap that the other player has foreseen and put into place. Such is our relationship with God: when the enemy tempts us into what may seem to be a comfortable position, but with the hindsight of God, is actually a trap that has the potential to cause many catastrophic problems, God may be protecting us from it and we may see it as a malicious act of God (which doesn't exist, by the way) and therefore continue asking the same selfish prayers, until God answers them despite warning. An example in the Bible of this is when the Children of Israel wanted a king over their land, when God advised against it. (If you're interested, it's in 1 Samuel 8 - 1 Samuel 13.) In the Bible, 1 Samuel 8 : 7 says "But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king."
God in this situation foresaw that if the people of Israel had a King in place of Him, that King would take their wealth (so that would affect them materially) and they would fall further away from God, as they initially would not respect God as their one and only King (this would affect them spiritually and in a sense in their everyday life, as it would affect the life that they led.) Samuel warned them of these things, and the people of Israel through their own selfish ambition ignored it anyway. God after these many warnings gave them what they wanted and the repercussions (to no-ones surprise) ensued.
"We get it, We need to be dependent on God, and not for our own selfish reasons", some of you may be saying. But at it's core there is a larger fundamental problem the underlies this, and that would be our relationship with God. Many of us believe in God, but most of you will know that that is not enough, as the Devil believes in God. It's that belief that is paired to faith and love and fear of/for God. when all of these things in your overall and day to day life are present, and you try and spread that love towards those around you, you're most likely living a fulfilled Christian life (N.B I'm not God, so don't take this as a literal statement, there are so many other factors but I believe these to be at the core of Christianity.) Many people have faith in God, but faith is not enough: through the selfishly ambitious prayers that I have mentioned there is faith in God , as they all share the understanding that it is within God's power to carry them out, but it doesn't make them right, so clearly faith is not enough. Many believe in the saviour and in his sacrifice, but that's not enough: We've all felt the Luke-warmness of understanding God's place in our lives but living in a worldly state; that's still in the knowledge that God loves us but living a separate life from our belief. This last one is probably the most controversial, but Loving God is not enough. When we sin, we still love God: most of the time, we don't sin in malice of God, but sin still occurs in our lives. What makes a fulfilled christian is a matrimony of all of these attributes and the act of trying everyday to incorporate that into our daily lives. Loving God isn't always a conscious action, but in times of tribulation, that may seem so, as God may seem to abandon you and therefore actively searching for that love for God is an understandable feeling. In the same way most of us believe in God, but there have been times where all of us have questioned God or walked away entirely from him in times of tribulation, and the same goes for every other attribute. therefore, in order to be dependent on God, we don't need to even start with prayer, but focus on building a relationship with God and knowing that however broken we are, however sinful we may feel, God will always let us in. And prayer is included in that relationship of course, but instead of seeing God as a commodity to service our selfish actions, we should focus on our relationships to be able to sculpt us to serve what must be a greater humanity, And this is not easy by any means! Every christian that wishes to follow God especially through times of tribulation struggles at certain points to connect with God, and my philosophy is simple: You can always be closer to God. And when We as a church/ Christian community start understanding that relationships and community are the basis of the church, rather than going for attributes such as wealth or people in numbers, then and only then will the church start to rebuild itself, but we have to understand that it starts here, in the now. Today say to yourself, what is my relationship with God, and ask him to be closer to you, and through faith, fear, truth, belief, patience and (most importantly) love, if you're really looking and hoping, your relationship with God will supersede your desires.
This may be confusing to some, partly because when I talk about subjects that are so close to my heart, the eloquence of my writing tends to disappear as my passion gets the better of me. in essence, if you take away anything, know that God loves you and wishes to have a relationship with us. when we approach God in this way we then can ask him about what we want, and whether it is his will or not, or simply just ask God, "Lord what is your will for me?" or "I pray that your will be done." God wishes we put our selfishness aside so that his will can be done in our lives, and this doesn't necessarily mean we put away our passions. It just means we have to let God take the wheel instead of us. To gain control by surrendering control. I'll leave a great Kirk Franklin song that I think encapsulates a lot of this. I pray that your heart will be open to grow a meaningful loving relationship with God, and to hear God's voice in whatever way he chooses.
God Bless.
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