Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
Where God's Kingdom Meets Man's Heart.
Why Jesus Part 5
Why Jesus? Part 5
In the first four segments of this series we have put our human condition under a spiritual microscope. We have seen that we operate in two dimensions, the seen and the unseen. In that two-dimensional existence, one overtly obvious conclusion stands out. Each of us is alone, isolated in a visible body, driven by needs that are invisible. We share that condition with every human being on earth, every human being that has ever lived and ever will live.
In today’s Part 5 we will introduce an anxiety-producing subject that plagues every alone heart, the need to be right. It’s unsettling, accusatory and tyrannical.
First, it’s unsettling. For many just bringing up the subject is something that makes us uneasy, unsure and uncertain. It burdens our aloneness. How many times haven’t you heard or felt, “No matter what I do I can’t seem to get it right,” or “I’ve got the kind of boss that can never be pleased,” or “ I can’t deal with him, he’s a perfectionist.” When we fill out resumes there is the urgency to make ourselves look right, to make a right impression. We meet new people and we want to appear right. Every single moment a decision has to be made we are aware of the need to be right, to do right and to be seen right. This is the need that precedes the awareness of the ultimate needs for faith, overcoming sin and being born spiritually.
Every day we carry the burden of having to be right and what might happen if we are not. ‘Rightly’ so. The very essence of self-consciousness seems to demand, necessitate and dictate being right as a state of mind, being and emotion. It is a must within and a pressure from without. But how do we acquire the invisible ability to be right? “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Again who and what do we trust to be right?
So much of human response is swallowed up in the concern to ‘be right’ and ‘get it right.’ The needs for recognition, acceptance, fulfillment, success and accomplishment are punctuated by the need to be right. Even in our moments of pleasurable escapes like vacations, entertainment, hobbies and sports, there is the need for them to be right, to be planned right, experienced right and remembered right. If we are alone we need to be alone right.
Second, it is accusatory. We fear not being right because not being right brings another spiritual condition, guilt. Regardless of what the standard for right is no one measures up and guilt results. Guilt accentuates our deep inner sense of aloneness. We question our worth, doubt our confidence and cower in the presence of possible failure and bemoan when we do fail. We are guilty and feel guilty for being guilty. How do we deal with guilt?
Third, it is tyrannical. Recognizing the need means we don’t have it to begin with pointing to a flaw within, a void that always needs filling. We are conscious that there is a right, but it is elusive. We tend to compromise with the standards of others in whatever place we find ourselves at any moment. We not only live in the tyranny of the imperfect moment, we live under the tyranny of the imperfect standards of others.
Jesus knew this unsettling, accusatory and tyrannical unseen need as He dealt with Himself, His disciples, the expectations of others and their hostile hypocrisies. He was willing to come into our aloneness, experience that same need by facing it every day, meet that need through faith in His Father, died to meet that need in us and rose from the dead to prove that His right is the ultimate standard for being right, thinking right and doing right.
In Part 6 we’ll look at how Jesus dealt with right and how He deals with it in us. Stay tuned.
In the first four segments of this series we have put our human condition under a spiritual microscope. We have seen that we operate in two dimensions, the seen and the unseen. In that two-dimensional existence, one overtly obvious conclusion stands out. Each of us is alone, isolated in a visible body, driven by needs that are invisible. We share that condition with every human being on earth, every human being that has ever lived and ever will live.
In today’s Part 5 we will introduce an anxiety-producing subject that plagues every alone heart, the need to be right. It’s unsettling, accusatory and tyrannical.
First, it’s unsettling. For many just bringing up the subject is something that makes us uneasy, unsure and uncertain. It burdens our aloneness. How many times haven’t you heard or felt, “No matter what I do I can’t seem to get it right,” or “I’ve got the kind of boss that can never be pleased,” or “ I can’t deal with him, he’s a perfectionist.” When we fill out resumes there is the urgency to make ourselves look right, to make a right impression. We meet new people and we want to appear right. Every single moment a decision has to be made we are aware of the need to be right, to do right and to be seen right. This is the need that precedes the awareness of the ultimate needs for faith, overcoming sin and being born spiritually.
Every day we carry the burden of having to be right and what might happen if we are not. ‘Rightly’ so. The very essence of self-consciousness seems to demand, necessitate and dictate being right as a state of mind, being and emotion. It is a must within and a pressure from without. But how do we acquire the invisible ability to be right? “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Again who and what do we trust to be right?
So much of human response is swallowed up in the concern to ‘be right’ and ‘get it right.’ The needs for recognition, acceptance, fulfillment, success and accomplishment are punctuated by the need to be right. Even in our moments of pleasurable escapes like vacations, entertainment, hobbies and sports, there is the need for them to be right, to be planned right, experienced right and remembered right. If we are alone we need to be alone right.
Second, it is accusatory. We fear not being right because not being right brings another spiritual condition, guilt. Regardless of what the standard for right is no one measures up and guilt results. Guilt accentuates our deep inner sense of aloneness. We question our worth, doubt our confidence and cower in the presence of possible failure and bemoan when we do fail. We are guilty and feel guilty for being guilty. How do we deal with guilt?
Third, it is tyrannical. Recognizing the need means we don’t have it to begin with pointing to a flaw within, a void that always needs filling. We are conscious that there is a right, but it is elusive. We tend to compromise with the standards of others in whatever place we find ourselves at any moment. We not only live in the tyranny of the imperfect moment, we live under the tyranny of the imperfect standards of others.
Jesus knew this unsettling, accusatory and tyrannical unseen need as He dealt with Himself, His disciples, the expectations of others and their hostile hypocrisies. He was willing to come into our aloneness, experience that same need by facing it every day, meet that need through faith in His Father, died to meet that need in us and rose from the dead to prove that His right is the ultimate standard for being right, thinking right and doing right.
In Part 6 we’ll look at how Jesus dealt with right and how He deals with it in us. Stay tuned.
Views: 16
Comment
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Comment by joyce warner on February 20, 2009 at 6:37pm
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Thanks for your prayers. I'm looking forward to part 6
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Comment by HKHaugan on February 20, 2009 at 3:37pm
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I'm hoping that your struggle lessens and will pray for it to. In Part 6 I'll try and show the importance of the Cross and the way Jesus started in the Spirit to work that struggle out in our place. ><>W
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Whitey, I appreciate your teaching on the need to be right,( not the first time I have heard it ) . Each time, I am convicted of my own failure to overcome that urge. My need to be right overwhelms what should be my desire to be obedient. It's a constant struggle
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