BP5 (Introduction 5 of 6)
Do you know how long it takes to fly around the earth? Almost 48 hours—two whole days (and nights). And I thought the twelve-hour flight to Tokyo was long!
But what does flying around the earth have to do with Designer Therapy?
In BP1, I already mentioned that DTFL is grounded on the person of the Designer God. What a foundation to build on! Remember that Jesus is the person who created the heavens and the earth. That glorious creation project included UY Scuti, the ginormous star that is so incredibly large that if you flew a commercial jetliner around it, you’d be flying for 1086 years! 3.69 billion of our suns would fit inside this largest of all known stars!!
The God who created such a heavenly body must be . . . I don’t even have a word to describe Him. He’s amazing beyond our imagination, because besides the hyper-giant UY Scuti, there’s billions of other stars in the universe. Half of them are larger than our sun and all of them together add up to more than the grains of sand on the earth. How awesome is the Creator of the heavenly bodies!
He is also the Designer and Maker of the most amazing albeit broken creature in the universe, viz., the human being.
In addition, he’s the God who is the source of all knowledge including any truth that can be found in psychology. In other words, wherever truth is found, it flows from the majestic Designer—even if it rolls off the tongue of an atheist who denies and might even hate the idea of a divine being.
(What’s the old saying? Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while? But no stones can be thrown at the atheist. After all, everyone is born spiritually blind.)
But believers in the Triune God have more than Jesus in this fallen world (not that we really need more). We also have His word—a love letter written to us to serve as a lighthouse for humans who are trying to find their way in the darkness. What a gift! We have at our disposal the owner’s manual, so to speak, for human beings.
Designer Therapy, then, is founded on the person of the Creator God but then guided by a compass composed of written words that point to true north. (Just a side thought here: if God is big enough to create UY Scuti, don’t you think he’s capable of getting an inspired book into our hands to direct our lives toward optimum health?)
The Bible has a lot to say about the four obstacles I mentioned in BP4, namely, position, practice, prince and pedigree. God’s word provides ample guidance so you can know how to master these obstacles with a view toward experiencing a life of joy, hope, peace and relational intimacy.
Below, are a few verses I cherry-picked from God’s love letter that give us some clues about His challenges to us that we can plug into DTFL (which I will occasionally refer to as psycho-spiritual-relational therapy–PSRT):
Matthew 23:26 “First clean the inside of the cup [your heart] . . . that the outside also may be clean.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 We “have divine power to destroy strongholds”
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves”
2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we . . . beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
Colossians 2:6,7 “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him.”
Ephesians 4:15 “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into . . . Christ.”
Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Mark 12:29-31 “The most important [commandment] is . . . you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.”
What can we extract from these few nuggets of truth? To grow in the PSR realm, you must be willing to look inside and examine yourself because life in this world is about inner growth. As we walk in a relationship with God, we’ll grow by being transformed into His image.
As one person astutely observed, God isn’t always as interested in what He wants to do for you as what he wants to do in you. Inner growth is top priority for your Designer which means that life will rarely be easy. Movement toward maturity will be a climb, not a downhill slide. It will be a difficult climb.
There are other universal truths represented in the above verses such as loving God, others and your own self; forgiving others; and even loving and praying for the welfare of your enemies.
Bitterness, rehearsal of wrongs done against you, and hating others is not part of good psychological and spiritual health. God has given us wisdom to identify strongholds that interfere with our relationship with Him and others as well as the power to destroy those obstacles.
There are still other truths relevant to therapy that God’s love letter informs us about. For example, fixing our eyes on God creates peace within us.
Evil and wrong exist and need to be dealt with or they will destroy you from the inside out.
Denial and blaming others are unhealthy defenses.
Relationships are why you’re here.
God the Father is your daddy.
Jesus is your friend and brother.
The Holy Spirit is your teacher and counselor.
In summary, God’s manual for humans is about removing every obstacle to knowing God, others and even our own hearts. It challenges us to grow and to develop our total self: heart, mind, soul and strength.
If we practice these truths, life will go well for us. Your life may not be easy, but if you live life connected to others, the suffering and pain of life will be bearable and even comprehensible.
DT is built on the solid foundation of the existence of the awesome Designer God as well as on his owner’s manual for human functioning. Listening to the One who designed and created humans and following his written word will give you a map to life as well as a compass so you can find your way.
If you want to build the rest of your life on the eternal God and the truth in his love letter, DT is for you. The Designer’s way is all about spelunking in your heart for growth. He will be your guide and his word will be a lamp to your feet. You will live in joy and die with anticipation.
So forget about UY Scuti. Let’s look to something much bigger, to Someone who has an amazing plan for your individual life.
Scuti is a dimple on the pebble in his shoe.
Your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors ~ Psalm 119:23-24