13. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

Toward the end of the conquest story in Joshua chapter 10 comes an interesting development. Verse 24 tells of Joshua and his men putting their feet on the necks of the defeated leaders. The verses following tell of Israel’s total annihilation of the enemies they faced. What is the point of all of this brutality and apparent gloating? Are such verses there to assure readers of the terrifying nature of a blood thirsty divinity? On the contrary, I believe these verses are intended to instruct the reader on some critical principles regarding the nature of our battles against those things which seek to destroy us and rob us of the promised land.
For many the Christian experience, even after many years of journeying, is less victorious than it ought to be. While I do not believe that the Christian experience is to be one blissful high after another, free from all struggle, as some television personalities and charismatic mega-church leaders seem to be persuaded, I do believe that God desires the normative Christian experience to be one of fully devoted and thriving followership. That is to say, we ought to be overcoming and defeating besetting sins which rob us of the life and testimony God desires us to have.

Research studies have demonstrated that very few people actually achieve any meaningful and lasting change in their lives. Astonishingly, studies done on heart attack victims bear out the sobering reality that even life threatening situations don’t bring about change in many people. Yet, what the research also shows is that of those 10% of individuals that do achieve lasting change, 90% of them do so amidst stressful and life shaking events. It would appear that we tend to be open to life altering change only when the stakes are high, very high. It is then we get really serious about life change.

Now back to Joshua chapter 10. What I believe verses 24 and following offer us, is a clear view of the critical importance of defeating those enemies which seek to rob us of that which God desires for us. For the Israelites, the command to finish the job and finish it royally, was an instructive measure that had to be headed. Why? Because, until and unless the enemy is totally wiped out, the potential remains for a future resurgence and recapturing of God’s people. The same is true for us. The “foot on neck” principle applies to our spiritual lives just as much as it did to the nation Israel in Joshua 10. The reason so few of us attain what God considers to be normative (fully devoted followership) is that we do not take seriously the nature of our sin. Further, we tend to think what appears “normative” in society, is o.k. for us. We enjoy grading ourselves on a moral curve when it appeases our conscience. Rather than embrace God’s call to holiness, we are o.k. with our relative “goodness” when compared to serial killers, serial adulterers, corrupt CEOs, and fallen Evangelists.

What we must realize if we are to live the life God offers us is that God knows how destructive our sin is to us and to those around us. When He offers us a moral code which is in stark contrast to what we see around us, it is not because He wants to rob us of the fun in life. Rather, He knows full well that unless we abandon the wide road taken by the majority we will never be free of the kinds of habits and cycles which keep us from life to the full. Unless we are willing to put our foot on the neck of those tendencies in us which kill the life of God in us, we will never achieve lasting and life-giving change. Sin, anything short of God’s standard, is that deadly serious–as serious as a heart attack.

Just as it was for the nation Israel in Joshua 10, it remains so for us today. We must be brutally serious about sin, the enemy of our soul. Rather than viewing it as entertainment, in reality, we must see the deadly nature of a distorted practice of Christian living. The label does not secure the life we long for. I know many a Christian who claim the name, yet, break marriage vows which such frequency it boggles the mind. And yet, they wonder why they are not experiencing the life of God as revealed in scripture. Likewise, I know many a “Christian” who wonder why they are always depressed, sad, lonely, and confused, all the while ignoring the many and various addictions to a multiplicity of drugs, drink, and other consumptive practices. Further, many Christians cannot begin to understand why they have never found the “soul mate” they so desperately crave, while they ignore their habitual tendencies to date any person of any stripe or any belief or practice. We tend to be a people who want our cake no matter how dangerous the cake may be once consumed. Yet, we wonder what is amiss. We take the bait like Adam and Eve when the enemy comes to say, “Did God really say…”.

If we are to find the kind of life Jesus assured us we can have, we must be a people who hunger and thirst for the paths which lead us to that promised land. Israel was not called to journey up the hill, casually smack a Canaanite or two, and then carry on like it was just another day. Nor were they to take the hill, and then just hang out occupying the land while getting to know the enemy a bit better. It was not about occupation. This was the point of the command to publicly humiliate the enemy by putting their feet on the necks of their defeated foes. The life of a vibrant, healthy, and victorious Christian is attained as we take the nature of sin seriously, believe God’s way is the better way, and ruthlessly eliminate moral mediocrity from our lives. The life we all want is found along The Way. No other route provide a way to the full life. It has not and never will work.

Put you foot down! Go get the life He offers.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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12. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

In the movie Nacho Libre, Jack Black plays the role of a friar/pro-wrestler wanna be. I know, it sounds ridiculous! And ridiculous it is indeed, ridiculous and profound on a number of levels. If you have not seen the movie you may want to give it a look just for the sheer fun of it.

In Nacho Libre, Jack/Nacho, has left the “world” in pursuit of a deeper and more meaningful existence in service to God and to orphans. His role as a friar is to care for a number of orphaned children on a daily basis. The trouble for Nacho, however, is that he is finding the climbing aspect of his calling too much to bear. He loves the children, but he cannot stand the spiritually oppressive environment in which he is forced to work. Nacho comes alive when he is directly involved with the kids, but he is miserable when he feels forced to jump through religious hoops set up for him by the religious leaders which surround and instruct him on a daily basis.

As the movie unfolds, we come to find that Nacho’s lifelong ambition is to be a warrior for God, in a wrestling ring. Nahco wants to wrestle and care for orphans. He fantasizes about doing both. Problem is, the religious authorities who run the show, view wrestling as evil, and therefore, not a valid pursuit for a Godly man. Eventually, the angst with which Nacho has been living over his predicament catches up with him, and he decides that it is time to bail. Rather than play a role he is not compelled to buy into, Nacho runs out of the monastery and he walks out on the orphans. If he cannot have both dreams (caring for orphans and wrestling) he decides neither is worth having. He no longer wants to follow his “leaders” into battle anymore.

There are moments in life which cause each of us to consider why we are living and what we are living for. For many it seems like each step up the mountain amounts to just another attempt to dodge a falling rock. Hit by one rock too many on the uphill climb, we are tempted to forgo the remainder of the adventure. The reasoning is pretty straightforward, “I have a dream, life is not living up to it, what’s the point?”

This kind of burnout is common in a broken world and all too common in the church. I have known many over the years who started the christian journey strongly only to give out and give up midway up the mountain. Church sociologists and demographers suggest that this reality is all too common in the church. Again and again we find people who come to God for new life, and eventually run away, finding themselves in places similar to where they were before the faith journey began.

Surely, this issue must have been at play on some level as Joshua led his men up the mountain, as recorded in Joshua chapter 10. Here were a people who were being called by God to abandon a life of comfort and rest in pursuit of a bigger life, but one that meant challenge and hard work. Viewed as a mere religious obligation, I suggest, these men would not have lasted very long. Halfway through that 20 mile uphill trek they surely would have given up the ghost if rule keeping were the only thing motivating them. Further, there is little doubt that many of these men being led by Joshua failed along the way. Some fought with others in the camp. Many, I am sure, were distracted by the enormity of the challenge. Others were, assuredly, caged by their fear of what was to come. Still others, in all likelihood, chose self over team and struck out on their own along the way. Simply put, they failed to live up to the calling. In the end, however, these men scaled the hill, conquered the enemy, and by God’s grace and power, won the day despite their failings, their fallings.

What separates those that make it all the way from those who drop off at some point along the climb? I would suggest to you that a great lesson can be learned from Nacho and from these men climbing with Joshua. What Nacho eventually came to discover was that the entire view of his calling had to be changed. In one of those “Aha!” moments, Nacho found that it was not religious duty and rule keeping that he was called to live for, rather, it was a relationship with a Creator who calls us to embrace life with Him and then inspires us to live large lives. God’s call to humanity is not a call to mind-numbing blind obedience to a kill-joy divine tyrant. To the contrary, taking the hill, any hill God calls us to, is about our adventuresome pursuit of our relationship with a God who longs to give us a life worth living. He challenges us, inspires us and enables us to win the day in the context of His joyful love for us. He is to be viewed as a God smiling upon His people rather than a frowning angry father figure waiting to chasten us.

Any good coach knows that to get the best from an athlete you must make the training regimen tough. As the athlete grows in his or her ability the training actually grows tougher and tougher. Eventually all the work and preparation pays off with victory. The same is true of our faith walk. God brings us to challenges and hills of all sorts as part of the journey to ultimate victory which is a deeper knowledge of and love for Him.

We do not continue the climb because we love a religious system of rules. Neither did Joshua and his men continue on because they were constrained to obey a task-master. Rather, Joshua and his men were compelled by the reality that God was for them, amidst them, and actively involved in their lives and their fight. The motivation for us, for Joshua’s men, and for Nacho is the same. We stay in the game, and get back in the game when we fail, because life without God’s presence just does not make sense. We are bigger than ourselves when following God’s call. Apart from pursuing His quests for us, we live petty lives. There is no substitute for living the life God has prepared for us, no matter the challenges.

Along the way rocks will fall and we will take our hits. There will be wounds. Yet, running to the wilderness of isolation and selfish pursuits will never heal us. We must get up and get back in the mix. When Nacho came to realize that God was calling him to Himself and not to rule keeping, he found that he could wrestle his way back to big dreams. In fact, God gave Nacho his dream to wrestle in the end, and he used the “spoils of battle” to provide a bigger and better life for his orphans. Rather than viewing every setback as the death of a dream, we ought to remember the lesson of Nacho and of Abraham, Joseph, and many others. The rocks will fall and seek to knock us off course, and we at times will fall, yet, God’s big dreams for us remain. He never waivers from His goal to give us all a life worth living.

Just as Mt. Everest has never been scaled without enormous difficulty, no dream worth pursuing is attained without hard work. The dream for a family, a marriage, psychological healing, weight loss, freedom from addiction, … they all require a passion for the climb. Keep climbing. The view from the peak is worth the effort.

Lastly, keep the critical issue the critical issue. The climb is about a relationship and not a rule. We obey God’s instructions for us because we are convinced He has our best in mind. We do not obey His rules in order to earn His favor. Religion (rule adherence) is about changing or controlling behavior. Religion, while it may at times enable behavior modification, it cannot change the heart. An our climbing, our remaining on the climb with hopeful and inspired hearts, should be driven by our relationship with God. The basis of the relationship gives the resolve. God calls us to Himself. He does not call us to a dull, boring, legalistic, and mundane life. Overbearing rule enforcement divorced from a love of God leads to burnout and an abandonment of the adventure. As C.S. Lewis, a reluctant convert by his own admission, remarks, “I thought I was coming to a program…but what I found was that I was coming to a person.” On our own we cannot climb high enough on the moral ladder. God is perfect, and we never will be. The will to stay in the adventure comes from your getting off the religious ladder and taking the bridge across the gulf of sin in your heart to the person and work of God fulfilled on the cross.

The rocks will fall. You will fall. Get up, and run to the person of Jesus. He alone gives us the will to keep climbing. He alone secures the heights which await us.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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11. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

Joshua chapter 10 continued…

Twenty miles, heavy armor, hungry stomachs, distant loves, sore feat, burning thighs, aching backs, blistered hands, weary minds, and sagging courage in the face of an ominous opposition–these were, no doubt, but a few of the nagging realities facing Joshua and his men as they made their way toward the battle ahead of them. High in the hill country, under-manned and overwhelmed, these men must have been tempted to just lay down, pitch a tent, and say, “I am done.” Surely, many had the thought, “Did God really call us to this?”

Can you relate? What are we to do when life has left us with little energy or desire to keep up the good fight? What is the point of continuing on when the odds seemed stacked against us? When victory seems more a fantasy than a real hope, is there any motivation for mustering the effort needed to press on? Should we not just pitch a tent and take a pass on the rest of the climb?

Joshua chapter 10, I believe, offers us a bit of hope regardless of the challenges we may face. Fatigue is a part of life, and we all face it as some point. Rather than lay down in surrender, however, I would like to suggest that we do have a hope which stirs us on toward one more step, one more day, one more battle, one more hill. The hope is found in our knowing that we are walking in step with God’s battle plan and in the assurance that we are headed toward the place or places He has directed us to.

Just as Abraham was called to leave all he knew and was prompted by God to “go” to a new place of God’s choosing, so was Joshua called to “go” and lead a people toward the victories God promised to secure. The foremost question we must focus our hearts upon when dealing with spiritual, emotional, and psychological fatigue is simply this, “Am I headed toward God’s agenda?” Or stated another way, “Are the steps I am taking in keeping with the territory God has called me to?”

The reality that kept Joseph on track and in the game while enduring the abuse of his brothers, the bondage of slavery, the attacks on his reputation, and the unjust imprisonments was the knowledge that he was in pursuit of God’s agenda for his life. A knowledge of being in the region of God’s plans for us is what will sustain us amidst the obstacles life brings. Abandoning God’s call to going and being assures total loss. The response of the rich young ruler who denied Jesus instruction proves this to be true. It is written of him, “He went away sad.” No doubt he stayed that way apart from the call of God. The region of worldly riches and acclaim left him bankrupt of soul.

For Abraham, his obedience in “going”, founded upon God’s promises for blessing, gave him the passion to press on even when doubt and time were tempting him to jump ship. For Joshua, the same truth literally “led” him into and through each battle.

The places God calls us to (physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, …) are always for our good and for the larger good. God sees beyond the petty preoccupations of our own psyches and He sees beyond our self-consumed misguided ambitions. It’s not all about you! It’s not all about me! Beyond any dream we could imagine, God has much more in store for us. It may not always come easy, and big battles may be a part of the journey, yet, in the end, the place to which He is calling us (as was the case for Joseph) is much grander than anything we could have constructed ourselves. Try as we might, we will never write a script as captivating as the story which God has authored for us.

In the light of God’s provision for us we find strength to get up off the mat and fight another day. As we keep swinging and keep climbing, God instills us with greater hope and purpose for His dreams. Each hill we take provides training and conditioning for the accomplishments which are to come. In the face of our weariness we must remember that nothing can provide us with an adequate substitute for the knowledge that we are in the place of God’s calling. No man, woman, experience, pleasure, career, or achievement can ever bring the kind of soul satisfaction which comes from living and moving in step with God’s plan.

Rather than pitching a tent and being done with it, we must take courage in the fact that God is preparing us and is paving the way for our taking of the hills He has placed us upon. We may not see the whole picture from where we currently stand, however, when we make it to the top of the next hill, the view will be astounding. As it was for Abraham, Joseph, and Joshua, it may take a while to get there, and the destination may be a bit different than we had in mind, yet, ultimately we find ourselves in a place that no eye has seen and no mind has conceived…a place God has prepared for us. Our own dreams fall terribly short of the vision God has for our lives. Indeed, just as Joseph stood before his family after 13 years of fatigue inducing experiences, second in command in all the land, finally realizing his God ordained destiny, we also, can stand in a similar place of God’s choosing with a thought similar to that which must have been on the minds of all those standing there in Joseph’s presence when he was reunited with his family, “Who would’ve thunk it?!”

As was the case for Joseph, and for Joshua and his men, as they drew closer and committed more of themselves to God’s plan, the opposition increased accordingly. Yet, what they found in the end, was that God was good on His promise to provide all they needed. As we feel the odds increasingly stacking against us in any given situation, we must turn to God, ask for His intervention, and then take another step, in faith, toward the life He has called us to. No matter how distant the dream may seem, no matter how hollow the promise may sound, no matter how far you may be feel from the reality of attaining His promises, He is at work. The question you and I must resolve is whether or not we are continuing to fight the good fight. We must be resolute in our purpose to press on toward becoming, in every situation, amidst every attack, in the face of increasing spiritual opposition, all that God has called us to be.

God’s call is for us to “go”. We must choose if we will take the path of Jonah or the path of Joshua, Joseph, and Abraham. Have you “gone” to that place God has called you? Are you attempting to run from the place God has presently called you to? If you leave or ignore His call you will only complicate things for yourself. Outside of the plot God has ordained, and removed from the role He has drawn up for you, there is little, actually zero hope, for soul satisfaction. If God has orchestrated your life and brought you into a “land” you are not familiar with or thrilled to be in, you may want to consider, along with Joseph, and along with Joshua and his men, that God chooses the routes that lead us to His land of promise. As Jeremiah has assured us, He has plans not to harm us, but for our good…plans to give us a hope and a future. Such a promise gives us strength amidst our fatigue!

Keep Climbing…tear down that tent!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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10. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

Joshua chapter 10 recounts an epic battle led by Joshua amidst some pretty ominous odds. The charge to the army of Israel was to climb uphill about 3,000 feet to engage an army that could see them coming, out-manned them, and were well-rested compared to the men Joshua was leading. The forces these men would face, as they knew, were Israel’s toughest opponents. The fact that they were also fighting them on their own turf, the hill country, could not have instilled great confidence in these Israeli soldiers. Ultimately, these warriors, clearly the underdogs, knew that aside from divine intervention they were soon to be done in.

Sound familiar? I have, and no doubt many of you have, felt a little bit (or a lot a bit!) like these underdogs in Joshua chapter 10. Life, for each of us, at one point or another, can certainly feel like an uphill battle against staggering odds. If you have ever been on a hiking expedition on a real mountain you may know what this experience is like. No one actually climbs straight uphill for 3,000 feet. The only way to scale that kind of footage is to zig zag one’s way up the mountain (about 20 miles total in this case). Even with that strategy in place, however, it is no easy climb. In the case of these men led by Joshua, the challenge was made greater in that the battle gear they had to carry or wear had to have been extremely heavy.

Here is the question for the day; How do we proceed with the fight when life feels like we are only halfway up the climb and we are already very fatigued? Also, what is our motivation for continuing on when it appears that we are doomed, destined to die halfway up a mountain, on the turf of the enemy, and all odds are set against our making a real fight of it? Is there a hope, a reason, a purpose for venturing on? Do we have help? Where does our hope come from?

As you read the account in Joshua chapter 10 a number of truths ring out amidst the perilous conditions these men found themselves in. First and foremost, we see a people who absolutely have no chance aside from a certain and tangible intervention from God. In situations where our human ingenuity, power, and strength will not carry the day we have one need and one hope–God’s movement on our behalf. At one point or another we all come to this place. The millionaire who has life by the horns can have his entire world turned upside down when diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness. The husband or wife who learns of their spouse’s infidelity can, in an instant, see life totally come unglued. The mother or father who loses a child to accident or illness finds life completely senseless. The child, abused in some way by an adult early in life, proceeds with life only to find, decades later, the wrenching pain of that abuse still dictating the course of their life and daily interactions. The man, woman or family that has attained “the dream” can, in a short time, see the dream vanish amidst the catastrophe of financial disaster. The scenarios change, the reality is the same–we need help.

These realities being so, the overarching message which resounds from Joshua 10 is this, God still moves on our behalf! If you read the account in full, you find that these men of valor, though out-manned, out-numbered, and out of the fight before it started, win the day. As it turns out, in the moment of greatest need, God makes His move and everything changes. They still had to climb, they still had to fight, and they still had to march uphill, yet, they did so knowing that every step would be sustained and emboldened by the God who was leading them.

The message which comes from the text is one that we desperately need along the journey of life which often feels like a long uphill climb. Our hope and our future is secured in the promises of God extended to us. Just as Abraham was promised by God that his descendants would outnumber the sand, likewise, Joshua was promised that God would go before him in battle if he would but trust God to make the way. Our hope and our future are not totally dependent upon us, but upon the nature of a loving and winning God. God WILL do great things on our behalf. He can and will move mountains, and He can and will move upon the mountain for our rescue. We must recognize, however, that the hike must go on. As we move forward, in the knowledge of God’s strength directed toward us, we demonstrate faith in His ability to wage and win the war. The battles do not stop, but our courage in enlarged as we place that courage in the work of God for us.

Recognizing reality and its challenges in our situation does not negate who God is and what He is able to do. We must see things as they are if we are to know our need for Him. Looking uphill into the eyes and weaponry of an ominous force we do not say, “You are not there…I do not see you.” Rather, recognizing the reality of the situation we, see the obstacles and then turn our gaze upon God and simply say, “Help!” As the account in Joshua 10 unfolds we find a God who does just that, and in amazing way. As you may or may not know, this account is where we find the record of “the day the sun stood still”. (10:13) In this case, God’s “showing up” involved His power over nature. The sun and moon were held in check by His hand, the very hand which created them, and hail came down with brutal force. God moved on behalf of His people when they were too tired, too battle fatigued, and too incapable of securing victory on their own.

We will look at a few more hopeful lessons from this epic battle in the days ahead. If this were a television drama this would be the frame which reads, “To Be Continued”. Today, however, take time wherever you find yourself in life, regardless of your battles, to recognize your need of Him. Call on Him, trust Him, and hike with Him. The battle is His!

Still to come: battle fatigue, increasing opposition, failure, and being a rescuer

KEEP CLIMBING!!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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7. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

Dear Bruce,

I have been seeing a man for a while who, now that we are engaged, I realize probably is not the kind of person God wants me to be with. He does not seem to have a relationship with God, has no Christian friends, and does not like it when I want to bring up spiritual issues. I have told him that we should call off the wedding, but I am confused as to how I should relate to him from this point on. Do I stay away all together? Is all of this terrible for my Christian “witness”? Why do I keep getting into relationships with men who clearly are not the kind of men God wants me to be in a relationship with? And how do I find the kind of person God wants me to be with?

Anonymous

Dear Reader,

There are a number of issues at play here, it seems to me. Let’s start with the foundation and build from there on this one. First, as you seem to know (at least intellectually), God does have a plan in mind for us as it pertains to relationships, dating, and marriage. Fundamentally, and as we have seen this week in the blogs on wholeness, we must come to a place where we are settled and at rest in the reality that God’s plans for us are much better than our own.

The reason we tend to get off track even when we “know” the truth is that our own bent desires tend to lead us. Like Milton’s “Satan” in Paradise Lost (see yesterday’s blog), we tend to view ourselves impaired or denied when what we want is not what God wants. We fail to remember that the one who created us knows exactly what is best for us. In God’s wisdom, it is clearly better for us to be in relationship with those who are like-minded spiritually. For a committed believer to be in a romantic relationship with a non-believer just makes no sense. The bible suggests that light and darkness don’t match. It is not a good fit. The foundation of romantic, and certainly marital relationships, must be a common faith and pursuit of God’s ways. If this is not in place disaster awaits.

This being said, I think you have made the right decision in calling off the wedding. God forbid, you just give it a go and “hope for the best”. Our best hopes in such a situation turn into a miserable state of affairs. In terms of relating to this individual from here on, I believe you will have to be sensitive to wisdom, practical realities, and the hopes you have for your future.

Does it hurt your “witness”? Well, its never a good thing, in terms of your impact, to walk out your faith in a way that is short of the standards God has made clear. Sadly, we all do this too often. So, accept that you missed the mark, let him and others know that you did just that, and then let him and others know that grace is the operative key reality of your life and that your intentions are to move forward with your future according to God’s plans. Assure people that you recognize your failure, have learned from it, and that you desire to walk out your faith as God has called you to do from this point on.

Wisdom, I believe, calls you to be loving and kind with this man while maintaining boundaries that are appropriate. Practically speaking, you cannot move forward assuming you will “win” him over to your faith perspective. We should not be in relationships where we are hoping to make the person something we want them to be. We ought to pursue and relate with those who are already compatible (though not perfect). Affirm your genuine concern for him and be a friend to him, provided it does not leave you open to temptations you know you will give in to. If you cannot remain just friends while being in contact with each other, then I suggest you take the necessary steps and limit your contact. Again, if you are not “equally yoked” and this man does not even like to engage in spiritual conversation, you are merely prolonging the frustration if you remain too close to it. Your “feelings” must be driven by biblical truth. Emotionally, we are prone to wander, so, make a commitment to allow God’s clear plan to drive you in the direction He has intended and over time feelings can be more in keeping with what God feels about things.

At this point in your life you need to focus your relational efforts in a direction that will take you where God’s future hopes for you are fulfilled. Spend time getting to know people, but do so with God standards in mind. We are called to be light in a dark world, and we are called to be in relationship with others (those inside and outside the church). Don’t fear interacting with other people. Yet, you must be realistic about your tendencies. If men in general are a battlefield for you, then take measures to ensure that you remain properly focused. If you are asked to consider a situation (lunch, dinner, other “date”-like scenarios) that would be attractive to you at first glance, then take time to ponder the spiritual compatibility level first and foremost. Then, assuming that is in place, proceed with wisdom and relax.

I do not think God is going to send you a Godly husband via express mail with a marriage certificate attached. Spend time getting to know people. Along the way, recognize that the most important factor in your “finding” the kind of person God has for you is for you to become the kind of person that an interesting and Godly man would desire. Allow God to make you what He has called you to be and you will have a greater likelihood of stumbling upon the kind of man you desire.

Lastly, in addressing your confession that you seem to wind up with men who are not the kind of person God has for you, let me offer a bit of encouragement for you to run to the most secure source of soul companionship. Until and unless you find yourself at rest in who God is and who He has called you to be, you have little hope in dealing with this issue. We tend to get into those patterns when we move away from God as our source for healing, protection, love, companionship, purpose, and fulfillment. No man will ever offer you ALL you are looking for. Only God quenches the deepest needs of our lives, and only God heals the deepest hurts. Go to Him as the source of your most profound love. He is the only perfect Lover of our souls. Once we rest in that truth, we are freed up to live and love as He intends. He desires that we be in relationship, but all relationships are secondary to our journey with Him.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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6. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

The Journey from soul impairment to spiritual health, while full of challenges, is one which we all must take if we are to find our true selves. We were created and placed upon this planet by a being whose goal for us is to know Him and to become all He has called us to be. Trouble is, we tend to think we know better than He how life should pan out for us. What keeps so many of us locked in the dungeon of depression, confusion, and emotional madness is the depth of our self-focus. It almost seems strange, I know. All this talk about finding healing and wholeness in our lives, at first glance, appears to force us to be self-focused. But, hold on, put on your thinking cap, and consider today’s thoughts for a bit. We begin in the friendly skies.

Cassius Clay, who came to be known as Ali, the greatest boxer to ever live, was known for his bravado, conceit, and showmanship. We were all entertained by his self-promotion and “razzle dazzle”. Such a spectacle can be humorous in context, and certainly as part of the show we know as “boxing”. But in real life, in the context of relationships, and in the context of our own growth, such a self-focus can be downright damning.

As this story unfolds, (whether real or an urban legend, it very well could have happened with Ali) we gain a crystal clear example of just how potentially ridiculous and illogical an inebriation with self can be.

On one of Ali’s transatlantic flights to a fight, in the middle of the night, several hours into the trip, the pilot’s voice was heard over the intercom, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking…currently we are flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet, and moving at a speed of 575mph. We are headed for some severe turbulence in just a few minutes, and we need you to return to your seats and buckle your seat belts for your safety.” As almost all passengers do when they hear such a warning, just about everyone on the plane did as the captain had asked. That is to say, everyone but Ali.

After a few minutes, the flight attendants noticed that Mr. Ali had, in fact, not buckled his seat belt. Knowing of Mr. Ali’s reputation for showmanship and the size of his ego, the attendants looked at each other and wondered who was going to have the distinct pleasure of making an attempt to get this larger than life figure to get with the program. Finally, one brave female flight attendant stepped to the plate. As she made her way to Mr. Ali’s seat, she could tell by the look in his eye (you know that look) that this was not going to be easy. As she approached his seat she decided to try to diffuse what could become an on-board bout, and she gently leaned over and whispered in Mr. Ali’s ear, “Sir, did you happen to hear the captain’s announcement?” Ali replied, “Yes, little lady, I did hear what he said.”

Thinking she had already made some progress, she continued, “O.k., well, Mr. Ali, could you, please, go ahead then and put your seat belt on and buckle up with the rest of us?” Not realizing she had made a crucial error (suggesting to Ali that he was like “the rest of us”), she turned to walk away when she heard, with great bravado, “Little lady, Superman don’t need no seat belt!” Not jarred by Ali’s jab too much, and keeping her composure, she turned and swung back landing a fatal blow, “Mr. Ali, SUPERMAN DON’T NEED NO AIRPLANE!”

Round One to the flight attendant! Mr. Ali’s ego…on the mat and down for the count!

True or not so true, again, this episode very well could have unfolded in Ali’s life, and it certainly unfolds in our lives in many different ways every day. Truth be told, we all tend to place ourselves, in our own minds, as “unique” and superior to others. The truly horrifying reality is that we actually do this with God. Why else would created beings attempt to force their own plans for life into being without any input from the One who actually created them? Seems ridiculous does it not?

Logically speaking, consider the implications of such a strategy. In Ali’s case, suppose severe turbulence had sent him flying from his seat. What could the results have been? A broken neck, concussion, broken hand, …you name it. Further, such an incident could have resulted in the loss of the fight due to his impeded performance from injury or it could have resulted in his withdrawing from the bout. That in turn could have resulted in a severe loss of income, loss of reputation, loss of a title, … .

Self-focus, vanity of the soul, distorts our perspective and corrupts our hearts. When its all about us, we shrink our hearts. The key to healing and growth is to recognize that we are all in the same boat, or plane, or status of soul, and to recognize God’s bigger plan. Here is a hint, God’s plan may be bigger than just you and I!

The importance of rejecting self-focus is made clear in C.S. Lewis’ work, A Preface to Paradise Lost, a critical literary work evaluating the plot and characters in Milton’s famous epic Paradise Lost. In Lewis’ work, he explores the character of Satan as drawn out by Milton. The character study is nothing short of brilliant, and biblical, in it’s interpretation of the Satanic Delusion. Further, this study of Satan, as revealed in Milton’s work, has staggering parallels with you and I. It demonstrates, vividly, the dementia which results from an improper focus on self. The passage below is somewhat lengthy, but worth the time and effort. As you read, you will not have to search too deep to find yourself and others “between lines”–I know I did not. C.S. Lewis writes,

He (Satan) thought himself impaired…because the Messiah had been pronounced Head of the Angels…This was in his view a wrong beyond measure…A being superior to him in kind, by whom he himself was created–a being far above him in the natural hierarchy–had been preferred to him in honor by an authority whose right it was to do so was not disputable…Satan did not recognize that in actuality this constituted a compliment to the angels rather than a slight. No one had in fact done anything to Satan; he was not hungry, nor over-tasked, nor removed from his place, nor shunned, nor hated–he only thought himself impaired. In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, he could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige…

Hence, his revolt is tangled in contradictions from the beginning…he wants hierarchy, but not this hierarchy…he is engaged in sawing off the branch he is sitting upon because his is a case of a creature revolting against a creator, the very source of his own powers.

Hence, Satan’s strife is described as Heaven (he was created there) running from Heaven, in that he is diseased, perverted, and twisted, he is still a native of Heaven…it is like the scent of a flower trying to destroy the flower. As a consequence the same rebellion which means misery for the feelings and corruption for the will, means Nonsense for the intellect.

I do not know whether we can distinguish his conscious lies from the blindness which he has almost willingly imposed on himself. Heaven understands Hell (Satan and fallen nature) and Hell does not understand Heaven, and all of us, in our measure, share the Satanic Delusion.

The Satanic delusion, friends, is indeed a part of us all. In our self-focused culture, and in the self-absorption of our own minds we see the effects of this ill health. Our perceived impairments send us into chaos. The chiefest of all perceived impairments, I would suggest, it the bent view which causes us to believe that we are somehow sold short in life if we offer the reins to God. Like Satan, we fail to see that we only have a fragrance because of the Flower. In attempting to take life into our own hands we cut ourselves off from the Stem. Rejecting God’s leadership and plan sends us, like Satan, into a world of self-deception, corruption of the mind and will, and sabotages our ability to think rationally. In the end, our emotional state becomes nothing short of miserable.

The world is bigger than us. As we get past self we find healing and wholeness. That journey past self begins with our moving toward God. Then, as He corrects our vision and gives us eyes to see the wonder of His ways, we turn toward healthy and life-giving relationships with others. As we do this we draw closer to living in that place Jesus called us to when asked, “Master, what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus’ reply, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, AND, love your neighbor…” As we get a hold of those two, which only comes as we let go of our Ali-like, and Satan-like focus, we find wholeness making its way back into our lives.

May God give us eyes to see!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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5. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

We have already seen, this week, the importance of reconciling our view of reality with God’s view of life. If we are to ever have a hope of becoming whole people, we must see the world through the eyes of the soul rather than with the blinded eyes of our broken desires.

Likewise, once we open ourselves to the reality that the only way to view life appropriately is to change the lens through which we see it, we must then recognize the source of this transformation. The source of our change, our healing, is God himself. What life and the law of God demonstrate to us clearly, as does the news each day, is that we are indeed broken. Our brokenness, once recognized, serves to remind us that the remedy lies outside of ourselves.

Few have captured the nature of our brokenness so vividly as John Donne (the 17th Century poet). In his remarkable work, Sonnet 14/Batter My Heart, Donne demonstrates the depth of our human frailty, and the severity of our need for God to intervene in our lives. Donne shows us what takes place in the heart of a person who recognizes both the need for change, and the inability to change oneself. At this juncture, Donne himself found, the heart must cry out to God for an “intervention”. His words follow,

Batter my heart, three-personed God; for You
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurped town to another due,
Labor to admit You, but oh! To no end;

Reason, Your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived and proved weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love You, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto Your enemy.

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to You, imprison me, for I

Except You enthrall me, never shall be free
Nor ever chaste, except You ravish me.

What we see here in Donne’s sonnet is a man crying out to God for healing. With abandon, he is calling upon God to address his dilemma. Though his love for God tugs at him daily, he cannot seem to escape the grip of improper living because of his marriage to ways which are in direct opposition to God’s purposes in his life. What Donne has found is that as he has taken detours away from God’s paths, those routes have led him toward things which, though pleasurable for the moment, became habits, which became addictions, which became enslavements, which ultimately brought imprisonment to his soul.

The lock of destructive patterns in our lives can become so strong that it begins to feel like a “knot” or a “marriage”. Such a knot, Donne realizes, must be undone, divorced. At all costs, we must reject a view and pattern of life which blinds us from a clear view of the brilliance of the divine life. Only God can free us from such a lock on our souls. And, like Donne, we must turn to God for the cure. We must cry out to Him that He might “ravish” us as the Lover of our souls. The word Donne used here was shocking to the reader of his day. In reality, the image is one of taking by force, rape, a conquering of another. Donne feels his need for healing is so great that he is begging his Maker to take him by force and capture him by the power of His love. This is the nature of our need. Donne is suggesting that our need for a relationship with God is so great, and that obedience to His plan so desperately needed, that we ought to allow, cry out for, the full force of God’s rapturous love to overtake us, enthrall us, and make us “chaste” unto Him and His purposes for us.

Embracing the Cure–

The need is clear, the depth of the need vivid, the nature of the need sobering, and the cure which addresses the need is plain. The cure for the heart in need of the rapturous love of God is God himself. He is at once the One who shows us just how great the need is, and the One who provides for our need. He desire is to be Emmanuel “God with us, and for us”. At the very same instant we see our need, God is there to fill us with Himself. The Good News is that God is for us and He seeks, actively, to provide for our every need. He is actually on our side.

The temptation, once we recognize how far short we fall in living up to God’s standard, is to make an attempt to earn His approval. This is an impossible feat. There has never been an individual to ever live up to the pristinely holy standard of a perfect God. The cure then is not our measure of perfection or effort, but rather, the work of God on our behalf. This is what the cross of Christ is all about. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is where the need is met fundamentally. Then as we live our lives with hearts of gratitude for God’s intervention on our behalf our focus becomes a resolved, grace-inspired, trust-oriented attempt to live as God has called us to live. This attempt is made, not because we fear His punishment, but rather, because we long to please the One who offers us life to the full, and we recognize that His ways are so much better than our own.

Healing results from a life of thankful focus and grateful obedience to the One who sets us free from all that traps us. Throughout life the traps remain and we find ourselves ensnared in them when we remove ourselves from God’s plan. The healed heart avoids paths of futility because goodness, mercy, and provision are found along the course charted by an all-knowing and loving God.

Lastly, we embrace the cure because we are assured that God himself is aiming and providing for our good. His posture to us is one of kindness. We must remember the smile of God which is upon us. He is not standing there, with a large rod of discipline in hand, just waiting for us to mess up in order that He might take joy in striking us down. He is actively seeking and providing for good in our lives. As we are reminded in the book of Jeremiah (29:11) “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”.

The difficulty many of us have in accepting the life God offers results from a distorted view of who He is. Religion convinces us He must be a rigid rule enforcement officer ready to wack us at every wrong turn. The biblical view, however, as revealed chiefly in the person of Jesus, demonstrates that He is a God who is primarily and radically for His children. A critical step toward wholeness and healing in our lives is a rejection of this fear-based view of relating to God and an embrace of the truth revealed in the passage from Jeremiah.

I leave us with a reminder of this truth from Karl Barth’s wonderful little book, The Humanity of God. Barth writes,

God’s deity is thus no prison in which He can exist only in and for Himself. It is rather His freedom to be in and for Himself but also with and for us, to assert but also to sacrifice Himself, to be wholly exalted but also completely humble, not only almighty but also almighty mercy, not only Lord but also servant, not only judge but also Himself the judged, not only man’s eternal king but also his brother in time. And all that without in the slightest forfeiting His deity! All that, rather, in the highest proof and proclamation of His deity! He who does and manifestly can do all that, He and no other is the living God.

I pray that we all might see our need and embrace our cure,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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4. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

Yesterday we addressed the importance of reconciling our view of God, ourselves, and reality with God’s view of life and His intentions for us. The practical significance of this key factor in our lives is vividly demonstrated in the passage which follows. The excerpt, from John Ortberg’s book, It all goes back in the box, draws out the real life implications of living lives detached from the God who seeks to do life with us. As is demonstrated in these true accounts, no amount of fame, privilege, money, sex, power, or pleasure can ever replace the life God intended. Once we separate ourselves from the God who created us and desires to know us, purpose, meaning, and wholeness is lost. John Ortberg, recounting an article from a news periodical years ago, makes this case as he writes,

All he ever wanted was more. He wanted more money, so he parlayed inherited wealth into a billion dollar pile of assets. He wanted more fame so he broke into the Hollywood scene and soon became a film maker. He wanted more sexual pleasure, so he paid handsome sums to indulge his every sexual urge. He wanted more thrills, so he designed, built and piloted the fastest aircraft in the world. He wanted more power so he secretly dealt political favors so skillfully that two presidents became his pawns. ALL HE EVER WANTED WAS MORE. He was absolutely convinced that more would bring him true satisfaction.

Unfortunately, history shows otherwise. …Emaciated, colorless, sunken chest, fingernails in grotesque, inches-long corkscrews, rotting black teeth, tumors, enumerable needle marks from his drug addiction, … Howard Hughes, died, believing the MYTH OF MORE. He died a billionaire junkie, insane by all reasonable standards.

John Ortberg continues,

Here is the question we need to consider: If Howard Hughes had pulled off one more deal, made one more movie, controlled one more president, indulged in one more sexual escapade, or made one more billion–WOULD IT HAVE BEEN ENOUGH? When is it ever enough?

The passage from Ortberg’s book ends this way,

She was the most adulated of women. Every woman envied her, every man wanted her. She had beauty, fame, and power–but she died alone, she died at her own hand. If Marilyn Monroe had starred in one more hit movie, been on one more magazine cover, had one more sexual relationship with a powerful man–WOULD IT HAVE BEEN ENOUGH?

The resounding answer to the questions which haunt us as we recount these two enormously famous lives is, “NO!” No, one more thrill, one more billion dollar deal, one more hit, one more blockbuster, one more sexual liaison, …no amount of any additional God-detached experience would have been enough to heal their souls. An no independent pursuit of our own will ever bring us to the source of our healing and wholeness. Sadly, it did not work for Anna Nicole Smith, it does not work for Brittney, does not work for Owen Wilson, and it will not work for you.

Our source, The Source, of all we are hungering for, is found in the source of life itself. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and to the full.” The life we all yearn for will only be found in the center of God’s will for us. Outside of that there is no hope for humankind. This is the way God built the whole thing, and we cannot get away from it. You can run off to Hollywood, become a billionaire, build a corporation, impress your peers, rise to political significance, pursue the “dream” you always thought would fix you, …none of it will bring you to wholeness. Without the gap in the soul being filled by the Maker of our soul, the void remains. Without God, through the person of Jesus Christ, no amount of stuff can ever hope to fill the chasm.

So, the first step to reconciling our lives in a way that draws us closer to becoming healthy and whole people, is to reject the idea that we are our own and to embrace the truth that God is the SOURCE of all we have need of. The remaking of our emotions begins when we turn to God as the source of healing. We need other wise and Godly people in our lives along the way, but this comes as an extension of the grace of God brought in to our lives. It begins with Him. Our relationship with Him grounds all directs all other relationships.

God desires to do life with us. His desire, knowing all, is that you and I find, embrace, and walk in His plans for us. While success, fame, money, and pleasure are not evil in and of themselves, detached from God’s plan for us, each of them become traps which enslave us to a life void of rest. The result of winning the race for MORE is a heart and mind in chaos if we have run that race apart from the will of God. More Godless living leads to less inner peace.

I talk and counsel with an endless amount of people who are convinced (though they would never say this) that some “thing” other than God will fix them and give them their sanity back. For some its a dream to be married. Others believe a promotion is the fix. Still others think fame will do it. I have met those who really think “seeing the world” will quench the thirst in their soul. The list is endless, and each attempt to find rest apart from a relationship with God, and His daily plan for us (more on this later), will leave us in a sinking vessel.

Zoe, the word Jesus used to describe “life” to the full, literally means life in an absolute sense. Zoe speaks of life as God has it, that which He has in Himself, and which He gave to the Incarnate Son to have in Himself. Zoe, life to the full, completeness, wholeness, then is found only in the person of Christ. No other agenda can provide for this. His life is our source and example of what wholeness looks like.

G.K. Chesterton, in his book Orthodoxy, describes the value of abandoning the common view of finding life, and points the reader toward the blazing glory of turning one’s affections back toward the pursuit of truth, which he calls orthodoxy (right belief, reconciled belief). He writes,

This is the thrilling romance of Orthodoxy. People have fallen into the foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It is sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad (with the passions of this world). Orthodoxy is the equilibrium of a man behind madly rushing horses, seeming to stoop this way and to sway that way, yet in every attitude having the grace of statuary and the accuracy of arithmetic.

This is the path to wholeness–the pursuit of truth, a life reconciled with reality as God views it. In a culture that seems to be making a feverish dash to greater madness all the time, the grace of statuary and the accuracy of arithmetic, as it relates to seeing life as it ought to be viewed, is greatly needed. It can be found. It is indeed offered in the One who is for us, and who seeks to make Himself known to us. His will, His perspective, His agenda, is your healing. He alone is the source.

Praying for us all to know the source of life itself,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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3. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

The question which continues to arrest me on a daily basis is one which seems to dominate the lives of many, “How do people become whole?” If you doubt the significance of this question or the frequency with which the question is asked, then I suggest you consider the implications of the following statistics, which come from the insightful book, Affluenza.

As the authors of Affluenza point out, despite our consumerism, and the perks of the American dream, clinical depression is up ten fold since 1945. A full 50% of Americans, in fact, suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues each year. Millions are on Prozac or similar drugs, and anti-depressant use is up three fold in the last decade. So, I ask, are we a whole people? In a society in which pleasure abounds, entertainment is endless, and sex seems to be a never ending, no holds barred thrill zone for any person desiring any thing imaginable…why so much misery?

This entire week will be spent on this theme because I feel it is central to the human experience, and the Christian mind. In reality, if I were to list another series of findings which demonstrate the moral quotient of the American populace as a whole compared to the Christian populace, little if any difference would be seen. I believe this reality stems from our lack of understanding of just how fundamentally distorted our view of life and reality truly is. The reason, I believe, that so few of us find healing in our lives, is that few of us consider the big picture (more on this later) and how we individually fit in. That is to say, when we fail to understand why this world exists in the first place, and when we miss the point of humanity itself, we lose our footing and ability to maintain a life worth living. The big picture, the grand scheme, should be directly affecting our daily lives, our moment by moment interactions. The extent to which it does determines our level of emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual health. More precisely, our spiritual health, which is determined by our understanding of this world and our place in it, directly affects all the spheres of our lives…it is the guiding force which enables us to finding healing and restoration.

Fundamentally, the central theme which provides the answer to this riddle of life is that of reconciliation. The word itself forces us to consider a sense of brokenness, dis-alignment, severed relationship, and a general lack of order. If something or someone is in need of reconciliation, they are in need of the ship being righted. To be in need of reconciliation is to need an imbalance leveled. I would suggest that the key to finding healing in this life is found in our understanding of our fundamental flaw, our central brokenness. The ills of our culture, which clearly so many wrestle with, are mere symptoms of a larger issue. The core of all of this goes back, all the way, to the beginning. “In the beginning” is where our entire human history, the history of our own lives, and the future history of civilization finds its significance. Without an understanding of why we were created, and how we were intended to live, we cannot hope to navigate this life properly.

And so, from this point on, for the remainder of the week, we will explore the big picture and its practical implications as it pertains to our wholeness, or the lack thereof. Today, we begin with the distortion, our marred view, our actual brokenness, and for the remainder of the week we will flesh it out and look for practical help as we continue to journey toward healing.

The words of Blake’s poem capture the essence of the issue,

This life’s dim windows of the soul, distorts the heavens from pole to pole, and leads you to believe a lie, when you see with, not through, the eye.

As Blake’s poem points out, the issue is the distortion of our “eyes”. As Malcolm Muggeridge suggests, commenting on this poem, “Thus Blake distinguishes between the fantasy that is seen with the eye and the truth that is seen through it.”

The truth that is seen through the eyes of the soul, when our view is not hindered, is that we were created to be in relationship. At our core we are relational beings. Blinded by our improper relational pursuits we lose grip with reality and we find our very being distorted along with our vision. Primarily, we are created beings who were meant to be in relationship with our Creator. When we fail to recognize this truth, we live as though we are “our own” and we live lives detached from the source of life itself. Apart from walking in communion, intimate communion with God, we have no hope for wholeness. We, who were created from nothing, attempt to live as though we are everything. Herein, lies our chief fault, and the great hindrance to life as it is meant to be lived.

The dilemma here is that we live in a culture that has exchanged the truth for the lie. The lie, the fundamental lie of humanity, presented in the garden by Satan himself, is that we are our own, and we can design our own life, relationships, and various quests for fulfillment. It does not work, it will not work, it has never worked. The moment we take the bait, like Adam and Eve, we see life deteriorate, relationships dissolve, and life itself becomes a painful quest for survival. Ingesting this fruit of soul decay leads to the death of life as it was meant to be lived. We are creatures, created beings, attempting to fool ourselves and others into thinking that in actuality we are the creator. The distortion assures our illness.

If we follow the plan as it was intended we will find, through our relationship with God, the ability to then relate to others as we ought. Once reconciled to God, the possibility of being reconciled (being in right, proper, orderly, life giving relationship) to others opens up for us. Truth be told, most of our misery results from the nature of our rifts with others. When we are not in proper relationship with God or with other human beings, how can we expect life to feel whole?

If we are to find ultimate healing and freedom from all the illnesses which malign us, we must break free from the distortion which blinds us. This distortion, this illness, is so nasty and deceptive that it must be dealt with honestly, openly, and with a passion for healing. If we can admit the illness we can begin the journey toward the quality of life God offers us. We can actually pass from the kingdom of brokenness into the land of healing.

I close, today, with the hopeful words of Malcolm Muggeridge as he draws out the implications of our owning up to the blindness which affects us. Commenting, again, on Blake’s poem, he writes,

Thus Blake distinguishes between the fantasy that is seen with the eye and the truth that is seen through it. They are two clearly demarcated kingdoms; and passing from one to the other, from the kingdom of fantasy to the kingdom of reality, gives inexpressible delight. As when the sun comes out, and a dark landscape is suddenly glorified, all that was obscure becoming clear, all that was incomprehensible, comprehensible. Fantasy’s joys and desires dissolve away, and in their place is one joy, one desire; one Oneness–God. In this kingdom of reality Simone Weil tells us, nothing is so continually fresh and surprising, so full of sweet and perpetual ecstasy, as goodness; no desert so dreary, monotonous and boring as evil.

It is in this reconciliation of the soul that we find healing. Our view of the big picture must be righted. As we are reconciled to God and others, and as we reconcile our view of the world with reality, wholeness is offered us.

Praying for your healing and His hope,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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