No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb
I overheard a radio pastor this week bemoaning the fact that many Christians today have switched from living a life of following the rules of the Lord to one of simply doing what feels good to them personally. Now, I will say that every time I hear the words God and rules in the same sentence I cringe. For this is the format of the institutional church as many Christians have come to know it. Listen to most sermons and you're sure to find plenty of "thou shalt" commands from beginning to end. So, I can understand why it is that many believers have come to the point o simply doing what feels good to them. After all, we know right from wrong, right? Perhaps, but when we simply live in a way that is pleasing to ourselves we're treading on dangerous ground. For one persons view of what is right and just may differ from our own. We see this all too often all around us. Part of this depends on how it is that we see the bible. Do we view the scriptures as simply a list of do's and don'ts which God has provided for us? Or, do we see the scripture as something more? I think back to something a good friend related to me a few years back. He said that the scripture was basically a love letter from God to His children. I see the scriptures as our introduction to Christ Jesus. Indeed, from Genesis to Revelation, the story of Jesus unfolds before us. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Why is it that many Christians today seem to have adopted a mindset of doing what feels good to them? I mean, we all want to feel good right? I believe that this practice lies with our own false belief that we are our own self. That is, that we and we alone make up our being. Sure, God created us, but we live our own life now! My answer to anyone who believed in this has always been...how can you be separated from He who created you? As Christians we believe that it is God who created us. It is He who breathed into us the breath of life {Genesis 2:7}. To believe that we can somehow be separate from Him is in error. So, when we are simply doing what feels good to ourselves, we are giving in to that deceiver inspired belief that we are our own self.
The good is a self which expresses God and other-love; the evil is a self which expresses Satan and self-loving love.
No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb
So, what is it that we are expressing when we display a self which loves ourselves and does only what feels good to us? Well, Norman Grubb would call that a false identity. When we engage in what simply feels good to us, we put God on the back burner. I challenge anyone to locate a scripture that identifies us as independent from God. Far from being separate from God, which is the lie of the deceiver, we are all one in Him {John 17:21}. Our own identity has never been with the belief that we are independent beings. The apostle Paul reminds us of our true identity when he tells us that it is Christ Jesus who lives in us {Galatians 2:20}. So, how is it that we can be our own self if Jesus is in us? The lie which Satan used to deceive Eve in the garden instilled in mankind the idea that we are our own being. It is Satan who said to Eve that she could "be like God" {Genesis 3:5}. The truth is, she already was like God. Norman Grubb describes Adam and Eve as being "unconscious expressers of Gods other-love nature." Adam and Eve were one with the Father, that was all which they knew. When we understand this, we begin to see that living for ourselves is living in the belief that we are apart from God. Sure, it might feel good to be footloose and fancy free as they say, but we still cannot escape the truth that lives in us. I can believe all day long that I am my own self, but that does not change the truth of who I really am in Jesus. I did not create myself, so how can I be my own self? Sadly, I believe that the reason that so many Christians are turning to a life of doing what feels good stems from a weariness of being taught that we can never come close to measuring up to God. I am reminded that it's not God who instilled in us the belief that we are separated from Him. This is the lie of the deceiver, and it continues to be accepted as normal today.
They were at first unconscious expressers of God's other-love nature. Adam was in harmony with all creatures and could give each its proper name {Genesis 2:20}; they knew no opposite to other-love in union with the Father.
No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb
~Scott~
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