“You were taught to put away your former way
of life... to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves
with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness.”
— Ephesians 4:22a, 23-24 (NRSV)
“God is pleased to strip them of this old
person and clothe them with the new person... He strips their faculties,
affections, and feelings—both spiritual and sensual, both outward and
inward...”
— St.
John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul
The most common experience of
coming to faith in Jesus Christ is that of blessing and emotional anointing—to
be counted privileged and to witness great personal miracles, as God proved
himself to us. We fell in love with this God. The baby believer is swept up in
all manner of emotion for the Lord.
Then, eventually, our
understanding is morphed after we have come in and landed. Life, once it has
normalised beyond the emotions-of-blessing, what St. John of the Cross might call the “unperfected”
phase of salvation, then becomes a testing ground for the refinement and
purification of our faith. And we’re tempted to think God’s Presence has left
us, because life feels, again, like it did before we were saved.
Yet, this is merely evidence of
transition into the truer faith-life.
The goal of this truer faith-life
is somewhat a tongue-in-cheek experience, admitting, in the Presence of God,
there is now no desire for personal control over circumstances that would
neither aid nor hinder us, as well of those that might.
We ought to be beyond the
placating of our circumstances; reliant on them to feel good.
Problems For The New And Older Believer,
Alike
Christian maturity has nothing to
do with the years one has been saved.
There are some believers saved
five decades that have less malleable Christian maturity than a two-year-old
tried and tested by their circumstances and application of faith. But the years
of applied faith approve our growth toward perfection.
The truer faith has everything to
do with straight submission under the purposes of God in the living of one’s
life beyond triumph and tumult. The truer faith is home to the dry life as much
as anywhere.
The differences between being
clothed in the new self and not are, for instance, the source and manifestation
of complaint, what we might argue about, even what we might choose to discuss.
It is a test of worldliness.
In our everyday life we have grown
used to comfort and beauty all around us; we naturally want to attract more of
God’s ‘goodness’ and we can grow accustomed to requiring it.
When a severe testing time comes
we’re not ready for it—as I was personally concerned, my faith was still
infantile; but it soon grew. And that is the purpose of the testing time; to
prove our faith worthy of accepting life however it comes—the process of
maturing.
Accepting Life However
The great difference between
Christian living and the unregenerate life is the manner of acceptance—those
who will not and cannot accept their real-life circumstances are still living
the unregenerate way; they are clothing themselves in the old self. This is a
hard word but it is nevertheless true.
Accepting life however it comes
compels us to imagine a place of possible circumstances that may cause fear and
trembling.
Anything that comes—good, bad, or
indifferent—is for our growth. Again, thinking of the possibilities, we ought
to be thankful for the things God is saving us from, and has saved us from.
***
Christian living is the purpose of
life in that it focuses us on being clothed in a new self that is patiently
resilient whatever comes. This is about not living as little children anymore,
but agreeing to partner with God in accepting life on life’s terms.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
No comments:
Post a Comment