Finding Our Inner Selves

This is the declared goal of every introspective human on the planet. This is the goal, especially, of those who are on the quest of “inner peace”. Those who have become somewhat fed up with the strife of just trying to live in a willy-nilly, “devil may care” attitude – where – like Indiana Jones – we, “make it up as we go along”! Most find that this sort of irresponsible lack of planning, or at least an inadequate consideration for what lies ahead, to be very costly indeed, and quite disconcerting. Over time, it becomes apparent that we humans need a bit more security and control over our circumstances than that sort of “care free” lifestyle offers. We find, in fact, that it is NOT “care free” at all! We are appalled to find, in fact, that the “care” - the worry over the issues of our lives - stalks us - just as it does everyone else – despite our determined ignoring of it, and profound denial abilities. So that, eventually we find that we too are weighted down! It is usually then we finally decide to take some affirmative action to correct the matter – that is when we effectively join the eternal quest of “finding our inner-selves”.

Unfortunately, this does not always turn out as we'd hoped. Sometimes we get to the center of ourselves only to find that no one is home! There was a Bill Cosby monologue some years ago - in which he recounted a discussion with a “sensitive intellectual” who was also experimenting with “recreational drugs” - as illegal substances were blithely referred to in the 60's. Apparently Bill challenged this fellow with a question, “Why would anyone take these unstable substances not knowing what they may do to the brain?!” To which the fellow replied in a very condescending tone, “Why? Dear fellow, are you not aware that these drugs enhance the personality?” To which Bill further queried, “Yes, but what if you are an asshole!” Well. That was something certainly worth considering – but a risk many were willing to take apparently! We have a saying about the baby-boomers who seem a bit “spaced out” - “the 60's were not good to them”. This generally means that those “personality enhancing substances” actually robbed them of access to their personality – or - it turns out Bill was right! Ugh.

But the real answer to Bill's question is that people risk these things because they are unsure of who they are, and they are searching anywhere that holds a hint of promise! As the old song said, “looking for love in all the wrong places”, we are also looking for “US” in all the wrong places! This is also the draw of the many various religious disciplines, most of which clearly do not bring mankind to peace, but seem to ultimately lead to war.

First we war with ourselves and then with others. First we are generally “lost” as to who we are and what our purpose may be, and then the sensation of being “lost” threatens to engulf us, individually and collectively. Who could know, for example that the central theme of what has become known as the “Judeo-Christian” religious expression was “LOVE”? It certainly has not been the central expression of those who have claimed that status through history!

Somehow we have lost the central theme, or intention of this idea. The center of Torah – the commandment from which all others derive meaning and purpose is the “V'ahavta”, which means simply “And you shall love...”. The first being which we are commanded to Love is the “LORD our God”, and we are exhorted to “love Him with ALL of our heart, soul, mind and strength”! Yeshua declared this portion of the Torah to be the greatest commandment – and further stated that the second was “like unto it” - in King James speak – going on to state the passage that commands us to “Love our neighbor as ourselves”. Both passages begin with the same Hebrew expression, “V'ahavta”, “And you shall Love....”.

As we were created in His image, and as He is said to be LOVE, then this command is a logical expectation. However, it seems foreign to us because this kind of love – that takes us outside of ourselves – does not come “naturally” to fallen humankind. It is not something we are “born with” - inherently. We were meant to be born with it, but we were robbed of it in the Garden of Eden, when our first forefather and mother made a decision that was clearly above their pay-grade. Because of that transaction, mankind was instantly, and utterly, separated from his creator, and sin – self-serving flesh – became the tragically altered result – far from the original design. Now, from birth on we are quite inside ourselves, actually - and frankly can see or consider little else! Unfortunately, until we are Spiritually enlightened – we can not hope to recover our real selves. And I must tell you truthfully - “enlightenment” does NOT happen simply by intellectual means – one must be Spiritually Enlivened first – by the Atoning work of the Anointed One. Which most “Christians” believe to be Yeshua of Nazareth – a.k.a. - “Jesus”.

We believe that He, Yeshua, is the long awaited Messiah of Israel, the redeemer of our fallen natures, the One who has come – because He alone has the Authority and Power - to restore us to the original design – to “our real selves”. It is in Him that our only hope of ever “finding ourselves” actually exists - though it is through the uncanny irony of “losing ourselves within Him”. He is called “The Way, The Truth, and the Life” and it is written that “No man can get to the Father (Elohim) without Him. In other words, we can never hope to be restored to the “us” which God created us to be, the central element of which was lost in “the fall”, without His anointing – authority and power - to abolish the fallen sin-nature in us!

And, whether we want to acknowledge this uncomfortable truth or not, sin must be abolished! We can not ever hope to be “holy” - that is – to accomplish the purpose for which we were designed – to bring God the Glory of reflecting His Spotless Image – as long as the problem of sin remains unsolved. There is no “self” to find outside of Him! And I think it is this startling truth – if arrived at without the benefit of the Good News – that leads people to give up on life – to perish in depression. But the Good News is that sin can be abolished, that we can realistically hope to regain that which was lost, that we have a hope of really finding ourselves – the “self” who is NOT an asshole!

Please, forgive the crudeness of that expression, and try not to let it offend you to the point that the truth of what I am saying is lost on you - but it states plainly, in today's rather cryptic and degenerated “English” what I need to say – sinners – as we know – are the worst at “selfish assholism”! We – as unredeemed “natural” men and women - are totally gone on ourselves until The Spirit of God comes and pulls our head out of our own belly-button lint! We need Him, or we will suffocate to death in there - “trying to find ourselves”! “We” are found only in HIM! Ironic, but true.

Those who have not been Spiritually enlightened are convinced that Scriptures are “contradictory”, but rather I propose to you that they are merely ironic. They contain mysteries that are entirely lost on the “natural” man. They seem “backward” or “twisted” to us in fact – even to those of us who are “newly redeemed” or “enlivened” - until we spend enough time with the One who can give us “eyes to see, and ears to hear, what His Spirit is saying....”! But we find, if we will seek the Truth out and have the Chutzpah to accept it, that it is we - not the Scriptures - who are twisted, and bent in ways that we have no business being bent in. And only He can return us to our former state – to the self we are searching for – that wonderful person that we seem to believe is “in here somewhere” - if we can just give him or her a chance to survive!

It is time we accept the Truth that is is the will of our loving Creator that we not only “survive” but that we thrive in the light of His Love, and the fulfillment of His purpose for us! But, as always, the choice is ours to make. We can continue looking for us in all the wrong places or we can accept the ironic truth that – to truly find ourselves – we must – as Yeshua put it – be willing to “lose our lives in Him, to find them...”.

If we continue in Him, we are assured that one day all the ironies will become clear, and all the distortions will fade. I, for one, can not wait. I am weary of wading through this world of half-truths, untruths, and garbled truths - I am weary of the alternate me – that I do NOT want to enhance with drugs, thanks! I am longing for the completion of this redemption process....Maranantha! Come quickly, Lord! Come help us find our inner selves, our inner peace, and our original purpose! We need You today! Amen! May we live in such a way as to usher in His soon return, and along with His return, the return of ourselves!

Selah....