BP12
You go to the doctor because you’ve had discomfort in your stomach for several weeks. After lots of poking around in your abdomen area, followed by a CT scan and finally a colonoscopy, the doctor announces that you have stage I colon cancer.
She tells you not to worry, however, because she will prescribe a medication for you that will relieve 95% of the pain so that you will hardly notice that you have cancer.
You respond by furrowing your brows and asking, “What about surgery? Don’t I need surgery to remove the tumor?”
Your physician smiles and says, “Only if you want to have more pain. Take the medication I will prescribe for you and most of the pain will be gone.”
“But the medication won’t do anything to get rid of the cancer, right?” you state with frustration and disbelief.
“Of course not,” she replies, “but don’t you want the pain to go away?”
“But the cancer will keep growing and metastasize and then I’ll die,” you state. “I don’t want to die. What if I have the surgery? What are my chances of survival if I have the cancer removed?”
“You will have a 95% chance of full recovery if you have the surgery,” the doctor says. “But the surgery is going to cause you a lot of pain,” she adds. “Why don’t you just take the medication and feel better right away?”
“Because I’ll die if I don’t have the surgery!” you exclaim in exasperation.
“But you’ll feel better for a long time before you die,” the physician points out. “Don’t you want to feel better?”
Jumping up from the examining table, you yell, “I’m going to get a second opinion!” Then you storm out of the room, slamming the door behind you.
I think most of us would get a second opinion if we received such sketchy advice from our physician. We would want to remove the cancer. Yes, the surgery would cause more pain initially, but it would save us from more pain later–not to mention death.
But what about spiritual and relational pain? Are we willing to undergo a CT scan of our souls to see what cancers lie within?
Do we claim we’re good people and have no need to look inside? Do we blame others for our problems instead of examining ourselves first? Are we afraid of the truth we might find inside if we allow Jesus to examine us?
God has designed you in a way that you experience symptoms when something is wrong with you. Physically, you feel pain in your body that warns you that we need a doctor to examine you.
Psychologically, spiritually and relationally, God has also placed a warning system in your heart to tell you when something is amiss.
In BP11, I discussed the smoke detector alarm and how it can be viewed as a metaphor for mental illness. Often, psychological symptoms like anxiety, depression, addictions, EDs, personality disorders, trichotillomania and other issues are like smoke alarms warning us that there’s a fire burning somewhere inside the house of our hearts.
Mental illness symptoms are frequently not the problem. They are Leakage that announce to us that there’s a problem deep within us that needs to be identified and healed.
Spiritual and relational symptoms of dysfunction overlap with and often are synonymous with our psychological symptoms. All three are about disruptions in Presence.
We were created for an intimate relationship with God and others, but after the Fall, we are born with a natural penchant for isolation, self-sufficiency/pride and a fear of being rejected if people see our true selves.
So, naturally—or unnaturally–we hide.
When we distance from God and others and even our own selves, and when separation becomes more normal than intimacy, symptoms like anxiety, depression, aloneness and even physical pain gurgle up from deep within us.
Like cell phones, if we wander too far from our cellular base station, we begin to lose the ability to communicate. Soon, we’ll find ourselves alone in the universe.
There are two types of people in this world—very reductionistically stated: Those who want to feel good and those who want to grow. While it is true that feeling good isn’t necessarily a bad thing—in fact, it’s something we all desire—if feeling good and experiencing pleasure and avoiding pain is the primary goal of our existence, we’re in deep trouble in terms of Presence.
Just as plants and trees are designed to grow from seeds and nuts, so humans are designed to grow; and not just physically, but spiritually, psychologically and relationally as well.
The main difference between humans and trees, however—besides the fact that humans have souls and possess the potential to love each other–are that trees do not have a will inside of them to resist growth.
Humans, on the other hand, are naturally opposed to growth because growth in God’s economy means obedience to Someone outside ourselves, sacrificing our needs to serve others, and loving people and God before we love ourselves.
These attributes are not organically present in the fallen human soul.
Bowing the knee to God and lovingly serving others at great cost to us goes against our natural grain. So, Jesus pursued us. He came to call us to submit to His authority in a loving relationship so He can then grow us to become more like Him.
He reminds us that, yes, He has called us to be stewards of the earth and to procreate and multiply and use our giftedness and enjoy what He has given us. But most importantly, He asks us to surrender to His authority and spend a lifetime learning how to be like Him–learning how to love.
In order to fulfill our purpose on this planet that will lead to our deepest joy, we need to know why we’re here. If we aim at nothing, we’re bound to hit it. Or if we aim at the wrong purpose for our existence, we will experience deep emptiness and disillusionment.
We will end up pursuing pleasure to fill us or entertain our depression away and we will withdraw and shrink up like raisins or live our lives blaming and condemning others.
God’s word tells us we’re here to seek God first and then learn how to love others and ourselves. God is the center of it all, and love is the evidence that we are seeking Him first.
So, we’re here to seek God first. Easy-peasy, right?
Not so quick. As was mentioned above, we encounter resistance and obstacles within us that prevent us from seeking Him first. Tim Keller says that there is present within every human a positive presence of unbelief.
In other words, we come into this world hard-wired to rebel against God. We naturally want to stray from the divine cell tower and will continue to do so until that rebellion is miraculously replaced by obedience.
God’s word tells us that we build fortresses against the knowledge of God—arguments, lofty opinions and proud obstacles (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)—so we can see the world the way we want to see it and do what we want to do.
In Romans 1, Paul tells us that every human suppresses the truth about who God is. In other words, we all know that there is a God who possesses eternal power, but we are naturally predisposed to deny that truth and exchange Him for the fleeting pleasures of this world.
We want what we want, not what God wants for us.
We forsake God’s Presence and the growth He has laid out for us. We pursue things that fleetingly feel good and avoid things that are relationaly difficult and painful.
God asks us to swim upstream in this world and to climb the mountains of life, but we prefer to float with the current and avoid every steep incline.
Jesus invites us to seek Him first and then to love others, but we naturally prefer to seek other things. Presence is replaced by pleasure and loving relationships with the pursuit of what we want first.
We become the captains of our own fate instead of asking the Mapmaker to direct our steps.
Mental illness, loneliness, addictions, and emptiness all announce that there are obstacles within us that stand stubbornly between us and God, that prevent us from experiencing His loving Presence. They are often the blaring smoke alarms and the loud megaphones by which God is speaking to us to pursue growth and intimacy.
Often, we are bitter about the pain and question God’s love for us.
So, what might God be saying to us?
Come to me, He says. Seek me first and healthy pleasure will follow. Begin with the One who began all things. Be connected to Me. Pursue My presence with all your heart. Remove all obstacles that stand between you and Me.
Because we should? No.
As a religious act? Never.
God calls us to Himself because the thing that is most true about us is that we’re designed to be in a loving relationship with Him. For some of you, that means surrendering your will to Jesus.
For others of you who already know Him, that means learning how to practice His Presence in a world that is dead set against the experience of Presence.
After all, the world is about separation and aloneness. Jesus is about intimacy and closeness.
Don’t settle for a temporary numbing of the pain. Run to the Physician who will use His divine scalpel to remove your psycho-spiritual-relational cancer.
The greatest reliever of unnecessary pain and emptiness is Jesus. The highest apex of pleasure is Jesus.
Seek Jesus with all your heart not because you should but because you were made for His love.
As lungs were made for oxygen.
As eyes were made for light.
As hunger was made for food.
Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger; and whoever believes in me shall never thirst’ ~ John 6:35