Uniqueness Continued

[HKHaugan]

If there is one insight that has struck me in the years of my life it is that Jesus is the most unique person to ever have graced this universe.  For some reason, and I can only say it is a Holy Spirit led reason on my part, this idea of the uniqueness of Jesus is absolutely essential for each of us to embrace if we expect to really understand who God is, who we are and why we are here.  To see the unique Jesus as one of a kind, special, an Only, penetratingly singular, disturbing yet fulfilling, confronting yet caring, a person beyond who touches within, who stands on a distant horizon yet prompts the heart to respond, who seems to reach across the boundaries of time and existence to bridge the gap between the seen and the unseen.  That stunning uniqueness of the Unique One, standing at the door of our lonely uniqueness knocking, asking permission to enter the caverns of our confused isolation from God and each other. 

 

It is not a generic knocking but a personal tapping, a patient and gentle persistent tapping on the window of our unique condition.  It is the sound of personal recognition, the sound of caring, the sound of understanding.  Putting it more personally, it is the sound of a someone tapping on the moment of my extreme vulnerability, my weaknesses, my inside that I never allow to be seen, my secret desires and yearnings, my failures, my ‘shoulda-coulda-woulda’s.’  It is that sound of a Unique Person who overrides the barriers I have set up to protect my self from the intrusion of the evaluation, judgment, condemnation and rejection from others.  It is the sound of a Someone who knows the fear that dictates the thoughts and actions borne out of the intensity of human aloneness.  It is the sound of a perfect relational offering, the voice in the wilderness of our drifting uniqueness saying ‘I Am’ is here, the Unique One awaits your invitation.  It is not a sound heard out there somewhere but deep in the inner tunnels of who we uniquely are. 

 

How do we step out of the loneliness we can’t see into the needed acceptance we can’t see?  How do we step out of that unique lonely ‘I’ we all know we are?  Why do we struggle so to ‘find ourselves’ when what we are really doing is looking to be found?  Why do we persist in continuing in the midst of rejection, making up our own theories of existence, significance and purpose, denying the Voice in the desert who cries into us, “Come unto me all who travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh you?”  This is our unique search and only our unique response can move us out of the cave of our lonely struggle.

 

However, there is something in the human experience that is generic.  It is generic in that it is the crippler, the barrier, the shut-off valve when we are put on the spot to respond personally in a given situation.  It is the fear brake that is pulled when our uniqueness is on the line.  I look at the vast chasm between me and the edge of whatever is out there and that is not only the physical universe but the invisible space in which we all look for meaning, source, the space between birth and death and whatever lies beyond.  Then when we survey that universe of relationships, when we have that moment of realization, the eyes of all are on me.  What will I do or say in this moment?  That fear brake when I feel totally alone, insecure, not sure of what to say or how to act.  I am self-conscious of having to do something.  How did I get in this situation?  What will I do?  Will I look for someone to blame if I get it wrong, get an excuse ready, attempt to out reason reason, deny responsibility for my part?  The pressure cooker of choice and decision that causes me to hide behind whatever shed of protection I can find.

 

The fear brake that initiates my response is called sin.  Sin is the spiritual generic invisible reality lying behind human thought and response undertaken apart from the unique God who made us.  It is the generic barrier to faith, to love, to acceptance, to recognition, to self worth, to maturity in relationships, to developed reason, wisdom, sound judgment and ultimate reality.  Sin is the gap wedged between our personal individual uniqueness and the personal unique God who made us in His unique image and unique likeness.  Sin is the individual taking control of his unique mind, heart and spirit apart from his Creator.  What human beings have done is to elevate their uniqueness above its source, being its own self-interpreter and going it alone.  Adam was the forerunner for every future generation that chose to exist independent of God. God’s Spirit does not remain where He is not wanted.  And there is no neutral space between God and the author of sin.  It is either God’s atmosphere or the atmos’fear’ of the devil.  The very fact of our self-conscious self-centered aloneness is proof of sin.  God’s forewarning came true, “It is not good for the man to be alone (Gen.2:18 NIV).”

 

Sin is the dark night of aloneness, of isolation, of alienation and the instigator of every broken heart, every broken relationship and every conflict that has arisen since Adam.  Sin is the fragmenting divider that cuts man into the slave chains of ethnic consciousness, social status, intellectual superiority, economic class, emotional deception, self-denial and religious distinctiveness.  It is the corruption of the heart, mind and spirit to find its survival through pride and control.  It is the eroding force that disintegrates self worth, the methodology of deceit as a medium of survival and the beckoning detour to fulfillment apart from God.  Sin is the promotion of membership in religion as opposed to a personal relationship with God.  Sin encourages seeking wisdom, judgment and life through self-help mechanisms like meditation apart from God, embellishing awareness apart from God as the way to live and the accumulation of trial and error knowledge as the methodology of judgment and the means of gaining wisdom.

 

Sin is the destroyer of our uniqueness and the devil does everything he can to distract us, tempt us and lead us to compromise our uniqueness by listening to the idol worship of the culture surrounding us.  The flashing marquee lights of covetousness, instant gratification, momentary recognition and acceptance through fame and wealth compromise our uniqueness.   Our individuality disintegrates into the attitudes and opinions of others, carbon copies of death in the coffins of conformity.

 

The bottom line is that without the Creator, His mind, heart and Spirit, in whose image and likeness we are created, it is impossible to function and become what we were intended to be.  It is impossible to grow into eternity.

 

All of this is why Jesus went to the Cross.  He bore the complete process of the devil’s plan of human disintegration on the Cross.  He bore the hideousness of sin in His Body and paid the spiritual price for our lapse into the abyss of lostness.  “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2Cor.5:21).”  “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1Jn.3:8).” He came to recover our uniqueness, our person, our individuality before and with God.

 

Look at it this way.  Each of us wants to be understood, accepted, recognized, have relationships that are shared, open and honest.  We yearn to be at one with others, to be loved and to love, to cherish and be cherished, to accomplish something and have that something contribute.  We have concepts of right and wrong, good and evil and want to be treated fairly and hope we can do the same in return.  We look out from behind our eyes at a world that is complicated, that is hostile to our uniqueness, that is unfeeling, unjust, unfair, uncaring and unloving.  It is in this aloneness, this self-conscious awareness, that we attempt to find and be found.

 

All of this is the substance of our individuality.  We live in a body, separate, distinct and unique from all others.  We have unique minds, hearts and spirits.  No one is alike. No one thinks, feels and acts the same.  Every moment is a unique moment for every individual.  No one can think, feel or act for anyone else.  Every decision, every choice and every conclusion is shaped in the uniqueness of every individual person.  This means that what motivates us to think, feel and act is going to have its manifestation based on the uniqueness of each of us.

 

What are the implications of uniqueness for each of us?  There is an overall umbrella that God gives us and that is each congregation, every group and every gathering of believers is unique.  No two groups are alike whether they are denominational or independent.  Each has a unique calling in a unique neighborhood, community and nation.  We are planted in a body, in a place, in a time and group.  There is no moment in history that is the same.  Each moment is unique.  We were made to be unique in Jesus, the Unique One.