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There is a certain wisdom embodied in the old joke: “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans for the future.” Lest we get too uppity we should remember that whenever human beings, rely exclusively upon human ingenuity for advancing a cause, there is a humility lesson embedded in there somewhere.
When the moon rocket was built, it was named after a Roman god of the harvest. When it finally flew, the Moody Blues described it as “Blasting, billowing, bursting forth with the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes. When a highly acclaimed architect designed a Unitarian church as a “temple to man,” the finished product was described by critics as a “Mayan handball court.” When highly pampered top-floor executives fancied themselves as somehow worth more than a thousand times what a productive shop-floor worker makes, someone finally shouted: “Humility lessons all around.”
The much vaunted talent proved to be not all that talented as they placed the economic proposition for entire nations on a plane of unreality. Their ignorance concerning the interdependence of economic sectors and nations was revealed as these so-called Masters of the Universe floundered. Even now, the same ostentatious and pretentious lifestyles advanced by short-sighted economists, industrialists and politicians may yet prove to be a major vulnerability, right out of a terrorist’s play-book, in the same way that all roads once led to the defeat of Rome.
There is an ancient proverb that states: “He who rules his own spirit is mightier than he who takes a city.” There is another advising us to: “Forget not that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Jesus knew these lessons well for even in his humble, temporal estate, he could see the end from the beginning. He would not be seduced by the sophistries of self-aggrandizement or dissuaded from the loyal service of loving God and man. If we are to avoid the pitfalls of a house divided, we must take these same lessons to heart while focusing on the Divine loyalties and the unified personality of Jesus.
There is a certain qualitative ring to this type of loyalty and an order to this process of unification. We could think of it the way teachers consider scope and sequence before offering a course of instruction. The fourth verse in the forty third chapter of Isaiah reads like the ABCs of faith: “Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.”
If this were to be expressed in a way that defines the scope of interpersonal relationships within our contemporary human families, and then goes on to lay out certain conditions that favor growth, mom and dad might say: “You are very important to us. And, because you have learned to appreciate the way we love you, it has truly brought joy to this entire household. We are inclined to love you even more. And we are trusting you with even greater influence over our other children. They will prove to be a blessing to you just as you have been a blessing to us.”
In this way we honor our fathers and mothers. This is the way Christ works to enrich the household of many mansions. In the Isaiah curriculum we come to recognize that we are precious in God’s sight. We then move beyond recognition and begin to appreciate and reciprocate his love for us. We make it easier for him to love us even more by aligning our free will with the Divine will. We open deep channels that allow Him to bestow suitable blessings upon us. Only then can we truly become a blessing to others.
Successful interpersonal relationships are integrity centered relationships that are informed by altruistic core values. When our values include loyalty to Divine ideals, as they do with Jesus, personality unification is the inevitable result. Once we begin to trade temporal securities for spiritual sureties we initiate this ongoing process of perfection. The command: Be you perfect as I am perfect highlights a time / space conditioned, though realistic, goal.
That goal includes the full embrace of the Divine will. This perfection is not about that delusional pathology whereby some individuals have regarded themselves as infallible or equal to God. It is about recognizing that perfection hunger is itself a gift from God and that, within that context, we can attain perfection with respect to our first, best destiny, for that is also a gift from God.
Enthusiastic appreciation, confiding trust and undying hope are like the assurances of a budding relationship; the first fruits of the Spirit. They are seed bearing in that they yield a sincere fairness, a forgiving tolerance, and a courageous loyalty that demonstrates fidelity to the supreme values of God.
The desire to share this truth is exhibited through the kind of enlightened honesty, merciful ministry and unfailing goodness that can only come from God. The giving becomes less measured and even more meaningful through the unselfish devotion and loving service that produces an enduring peace. With Jesus we are favored with the best possible case study for understanding interpersonal and integral relationships, ones that inform as well as transform us.