For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)
Let's be realistic, our life is consistent of hills and valleys; ups and downs. Some times we succeed other times we fail. The question is how can we preserve ourselves in the valleys?
Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
How can we find our way back if we are lost in our spiritual life?
First we ask ourselves the question, why am I lost? What happened to me?
I'm going to speak about myself, the main reason I get lost is because of pressure. And everyone will probably give a different answer to this.
When I start comparing myself to others, I feel small. The feeling of insignificance leads to despair, despair leads to hopelessness, hopelessness leads to destruction.
Some Analysis
We've been taught that we're all sinners. That we should never "feel good" about ourselves. That everything good is not of us. That we have to rely on other humans for our spiritual standing with God. That we have to follow all these steps in order to grow spiritually, and if we don't then that's a black stain against us.
But at the same time we're taught about how great the saints are and how they are heroes of the faith.
This leads to an cognitive dissonance: On one hand we're being asked to be like the saints, but on the other hand we should affirm that we're sinners and have nothing good in us.
In my mind this leads to an impasse we can not cross: In effect we're asked to deny our potential. So how can we ever reach the level of the saints.
This intellectual dissonance instills rebellion. When you feel, you're being put down, our fight or flight reflex kicks in. And when we try to discuss our points of view but get shutdown, then we feel marginalized and that just feeds into our rebellious feelings. Then we fall into this vicious circle.
So how can we break this vicious circle? How can we find our way back?
The first step is to exercise our reasoning ability, our potential as thinking beings. I believe when the bible says we were created in the image of God, it means we were created as thinking beings. That's the primary difference between us and animals. We are more similar than dissimilar in all other biological aspects.
We need to correct the cognitive dissonance. We have to look at what we're taught and exercise our intellectual ability and our discernment to determine what makes sense and what doesn't. We have to correct our view of God.
Again speaking personally, when I look at the teaching that we're all sinners. I need to understand this correctly and what the bible says. If we stop at Romans 3:23, then we lose hope. However lets read what St. Paul says after:
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
So we being sinners is not the end of it. We've been justified through the mercy of God. Why did God go through all this plan? It's because he loves us, even though we are still sinners.
We have to change our view of God as someone who's up there, looking down on us with disappointment in his eyes about how lost we are, and more like the shepherd who went out to seek the lost sheep.
Luke 15 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Jesus own words contradict the "feeling" that we're unworthy. We are worthy because God deemed us worthy enough to go look for us. We are worthy because God has loved us first. Not because we're good and innately good. But rather because of the goodness of God. So we should stop measuring ourselves via our strengths and weaknesses and rest in God's love.
Matthew 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
To correct the dissonance, we then have to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking of God, who has given us rest.
This leads to the second point of not comparing ourselves to others.
Such comparison almost always leads to despair. For one, we do not know the journey some of these people took on their lives. We only have a second hand narrative.
Now not comparing ourselves doesn't mean we can't take them as an example. But what does it mean we take them as an example? St. Paul clarifies
1 Corinthians 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
So these were told to us as an example (in this particular case it's a negative example) to show us the detrimental impact of sin to our lives. Therefore he continues and says:
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Notice that he ends with encouragement: "But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able"
In Hebrews 12 he says:
12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
In this he talks about the cloud of witnesses as an encouragment for us to continue the race. Not as a way to compare ourselves to them. We are on one team and we all are encouraging each other to continue the road. But right in the next verse he then talks about "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith". As in any race our eyes should be on the prize, so as in our spiritual race, our eyes should be on the Lord and not on anyone else.
To assert the above, look at what Jesus says to Peter:
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
The last point I'd like to touch on is the idea of rules. We have to follow a set of stringent rules and if we do not follow them, then we become rule breaker which God is not very happy with.
When Jesus was teaching and doing good he broke some rules of men, IE he healed on the sabath. So when they accused him of that he told them:
Mark2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Our lives with God are not based on a set of rules of do's and don't's. The law of God is not a set of rules we must follow. It's based on the reality up on which the universe is built. Like physical laws they can not be broken without consequence.
I can not step off a bridge and say, I don't believe in gravity. Or I can't take a burning match and put it against my skin and say that it won't hurt me. It's the same with turning our back on God. We can not do that without detrimental consequence to our lives. For God is the source of life. We can not leave him and expect to be okay.
Now all the graces the church gives us are meant to help us along. They themselves are not the goal. But they are meant to encourage us to reach the goal, which is Jesus Christ. When we correct our thinking that way, we take away the sense of rebelliousness about following rules. We can rest easy, when we realize that God is not going to judge us by a set of rules that we must follow or else we fall away.
What I talked about here is what I need to do to correct the cognitive dissonance that I have. This is only the first step. It's only a correction in the course. The next step is to start the race. And to keep reminding ourselves who our goal is.
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.