Wholeness: Cyclical

The other day I was reminded of why I am putting so much effort into this series when I saw an Instagram post that said something like “Christianity isn’t about joy, prosperity, or fulfillment, but holiness.” If this person truly understood the full scope and cyclical nature of holiness he would realize that holiness is spiritual prosperity, and that leads to joy and fulfillment as we find our place in God’s kingdom. Such a bleak perception of the gospel. A perception rooted more in human understanding and pride than righteousness. Which only delights and inspires those who want to claim religious superiority over others, not help the lost as we were set apart for.

It also took me back to a previous series Complexity where I address the atheist claim that religion is inadequate to answer life’s complex questions. If we oversimplify holiness and only address it as a standard of righteousness, we need only define and enforce the standard. Which is indeed inadequate to truly counter mankind’s fallen nature at its root. This is also how things like love, forgiveness, and grace get neglected. Leaving the gospel incomplete and too simple to address life’s difficulties. Without grace and what goes with it, Christianity really is no different than any other simplistic pagan belief. The question is, why are so many trying to make Christianity more like the other beliefs of the world?

So let me lay out the cycle of holiness for you so you know what I mean by spiritual prosperity. We need to first find wholeness to live the righteous life since it’s our brokenness, that derails our ability to live the way of righteousness. As we walk the path of righteousness, our purpose for which we are set apart comes into greater focus as the spirit guides us. (Psychologists have found that those who seek a meaningful life are much happier than those who seek happiness for happiness' sake do. Not all psychologists appreciate these findings, especially those following the unproven theories of Abraham Maslow. Yet the evidence doesn’t lie, living out your philanthropic purpose does indeed lead to more fulfillment than self-centeredness does.) As this cycle is engaged we are in a better position to maintain our wholeness. Maintaining our wholeness means we are in a good position to maintain our righteousness. If we continue to maintain our righteousness, we can put more energy into what we were set apart for, and actually expand God’s kingdom as a result.

It takes three elements to produce this cycle. Try to leave anything out, you will stagnate. Or worse yet find yourself in a self-destructive cycle, causing you to believe that there is no room for, joy, prosperity, or fulfillment in your one-dimensional overly simplistic faith. Which has only driven people away from the church in droves. You often hear people say we need to break self-destructive cycles. But perhaps what we really need to do is replace it with a holy one.

The Visual PARABLEist  

The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. -Psalm 19:8

Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.-Psalm 41:1

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” - Acts 5:32

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. -John 16:13