The Progression to Contentment

I would like to present 14 phases that you go through if you want to experience a joy and contentment that very few ever get to enjoy this side of heaven. I could easily spend an entire blog on each phase but, would rather condense this over the next few blogs. The 1st phase is: “That you must acknowledge that God is.” For most people on the planet, no matter their background this is not a difficult thing. Yet unfortunately there is a culture within our academia and within our entertainment world that attempts to convince us that the obvious is not true. As a result, there are large numbers of people who question the very existence of God.

For a short period of time the scientific world promoted Darwin’s strange Theory of Evolution. It seems that many were looking for a way to not believe in a creator and jumped in with both feet and Darwinism was born. As a result of Darwinism, over the years there has been a lot of fraud and deception trying to prove the theory with false claims of missing links and all kinds of other pseudo-science placed in text books and other traditional sources of information. Science and knowledge has come a long ways since the 1870’s and as a result, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution as an explanation of the origin of all that exists has been proven wrong so many times that it would be impossible to list. Although the observation that animals and plants do tend to naturally have small changes over time there has never been even one of the 8.7 million species on the earth that has evolved from one species or into another. The millions of fossils now discovered and documented show clearly that evolution from one species to another has not been part of natural history. Also as a result of powerful magnification and other new ways of studying the many aspects of living things all the way down to the molecular structure, nearly every reputable Scientist in the world acknowledges that there is clearly an intelligent design of all living things. Just the amazing wonder of the human eye on the surface should be enough to make that point let alone the remarkable complexity of DNA. In Darwin’s day, a blob-like cell was the smallest thing humanity could see. Now we know that even protons and neutrons are made of quarks and gluons and there are 6 different kinds of quarks and even pentaquarks. We even know that electrons move randomly and that through quantum physics there is interaction at a cellular level between substances sometime even miles away from each other.

The complexity and variety and the fact that even our smartest people armed with all the knowledge that exists around the world and throughout history still have so many unknowns and questions about how things in nature work. The Bumblebee with its massive body and its tiny wings has baffled scientist for many years. Now we know that because of the angle and direction of movement of the Bumblebee’s wings that they are creating vortices or “tiny hurricanes” to fly. Now scientists are trying to figure out how they control their flight, which is still a mystery. The point is that the remarkably intelligent designs of all of creation, all point to a creator. I could geek out on this stuff for an entire book, but I want to move on to another more impactful reality.

One phenomenon of Human nature seems to be that when people live their lives within man made cities surrounded by manmade stuff, they tend to start thinking that man created or made up God. Statistically, city dwellers seem to have very little connection to God and struggle with even the belief in our creator. Many make sure that they get away from the city lights and go spend time with “Mother Nature”. When they do this, all experience a refreshing of their minds and a recharging of their souls. So wonderful is this experience that many say that “Nature” is their God or their Church. The reality is that connecting with creation is one of the most powerful and compelling ways to connect with the creator of your soul. I love the phrase “Mother Nature”. Many would not so quickly connect the term with God, but God has described Himself as: a mother longing to comfort her children and even to gather them as a mother hen gathers her chicks. God has created both male and female in his image or likeness. God has both masculine and feminine characteristic and loves to Mother us with warm embraces. In fact, that is what is happening when you take the time to slow down enough and get away and truly take in the wonder and majesty of a sunset or a snowcapped mountain peak. When you disconnect yourself from electronics and concrete and go off the grid into the wilderness or out to sea, especially by yourself for at least a day or two, you will without a doubt have such an amazing experience and will come away knowing that God is. Because all of creation is proclaiming that He is! The huge fluffy clouds filled with tons of water floating effortlessly in the blue sky are speaking out to you. The invisible gentle breeze blowing in your face and the warmth of the sun 92 billion miles away touching your cheek is speaking out to you. The majesty of a bull elk and the magical beauty of the dancing waters of a creek are speaking our language. Even the still silence of a starry night sky is proclaiming the truth that He is! If you want to join me and many others on a journey towards a peace that surpasses understanding you will need to first, fully and completely settle within yourself that God created all that there is and that he created you and that you are wonderfully made – “His Masterpiece.” I believe one of the best ways to do this is to marvel at the beauty and wonder of His creation. Take the time over the next couple of weeks to do so and see what I mean.

The 2^nd phase is that: “you must acknowledge that God is good.” For those that know God well this may seem very simplistic, yet this is a major stumbling block for so many. Humanity is filled with so much suffering and injustice that it is a natural conclusion for many to surmise that “if God exists then why does He allow these horrific things to happen?” It is not always easy to see that God is good, or that He is love, or that He is just…… When you realize how powerful God must be then it is very confusing to grasp why evil things happen all the time, even to the those who look to Him and acknowledge Him. It is not that God is indifferent, it is that he is a gentleman and not a tyrant and that He believes in us so much that He genuinely gives each of us free will. “Free will” is a double-edged sword that none of us would be interested in giving up. It is what makes us human, the ability to make our own choices to make our own way. Without genuine free will, we would be nothing more than robots that were programmed to only perform certain functions. The problem is that evil is part of this world and when people use their free will to join with evil, evil uses that same free will to do horrific things to humanity. These horrible things go completely against God’s plan and His desires. It is a misconception to believe that God is in control of everything. If this were true, there would be no free will at all. The very definition of free will is that God chose to restrict Himself from overriding our choices, even when these choices hurt the very ones that God loves so much. God created the world with an open concept and gave mankind the power to manage things in a way that they seem fit. God does not want anyone to reject Him, but when someone tells Him to leave them alone, He honors their request as a brokenhearted gentleman. If God used His incredible power to override our choices then He would no longer be good or just, He would be a tyrant. God never tries to control or dominate us; He tries to compel us through amazing love to surrender our wills to Him and trust that His ways are far better than our ways. Humanity is in a fallen state and God has made a way to redeem all of humanity and He is patiently waiting for us to embrace what He has already done to stop the horrors of evil.

The 3^rd phase is that: “you must acknowledge your sin and your need for mercy.” Why do we justify our wrong doings? Knowing that no one likes to be lied to, why do we ignore the times when we lied to those who were only trying to help us? Knowing that no one likes to be put down, why do we justify the times that anger got the best of us and we spoke to loved ones in a harsh way? Our culture has deteriorated so far that sins that would have been completely unacceptable to previous generations are now mainstay weekly occasions. Because culture has taught us to justify and look for excuses for our unthoughtful actions to such an extent, many people have nearly no conscience. For some people if you asked them about their sin, they have a hard time thinking of anything pertaining to themselves at all. All I can say is that you need to be brave and courageous. Go directly to God and ask Him to open your eyes to your sin and short comings. This is not a fun experience, but it is probably the healthiest thing that you could ever do for your overall wellbeing. This is the doorway to you understanding how much mercy you need. The wonderful thing about God is that He accepts you right where you are. He has prepared for this and is longing to have a genuine moment with you. He is Holy, but also tender and kind and waiting patiently for you to answer His gentle knocking on the door of your heart to let Him in.

The 4^th phase is that: “you must acknowledge and confess that Jesus is now Lord of All and Savior of your wounded heart through His willingness to die on a cross and that God proved it through raising Him from the dead.” There is no other more documented or written about event in human history than Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Unfortunately, the reviewing of the historical events seldom lead people to the understanding of what really happened. No greater love is there than when a man lays down his life for another to live. Sure, throughout history men have chosen to lay down their lives for leaders that seemed to be great, but Jesus chose to die for us while looking at us in our worst moments. This kind of love is beyond our ability to grasp. Can you truly say that you can understand a love that would compel you to die a miserable death of public humiliation and torture at the prime of your life for someone who is primarily concerned for their own wellbeing and has little regard for the suffering of others? Yet, for this very reason Jesus came to the earth born of a virgin. Jesus was God in the flesh to display a love that can only be described as amazing! Being God, Jesus Christ had no need for us and had every right to just destroy us all and disregard us as a bad experiment. Even the very people that had thousands of years of experiences with God and knew about His coming, did not even recognize Him when He was standing in their midst performing the most amazing miracles of healing and deliverance. In fact, they were the very ones who condemned themselves by condemning Jesus to death. Unfortunately, without God’s grace none of us would have done any different. And what about the love of the Father? Which loving father out there would have the willingness to sacrifice their very own son to die a horrific death for those rejecting his ways? We do not deserve such love being displayed for us and yet it is that amazing love for us that was not just talked about, but actually put on display for the whole world to see embodied in Jesus Christ’s willingness to die for us upon that Roman Cross nearly 2000 years ago. How can we not conclude that we have the most loving of Saviors! How can we not be willing to confess that He makes a far better Lord over our lives than we do? Will you not surrender the lordship of your life to the One who is worthy to be Lord of All……???????