There are two kingdoms between which there is a life-lasting war, war
until one of them disappear. There is a permanent disagreement between the laws
under which the two kingdoms function. All humans are without exception born in
the kingdom of this world, i.e. in the kingdom of conditional love and only by
free choice can opt for the other kingdom which is distinguished by
unconditional love. Most people in their families and surroundings are raised
and gradually poisoned by regulations of the first kingdom and thought that
love must be deserved and not given away without any merit. Each one of us
remembers the words: „Be good and you will get this or that“ or, conversely:
„You'll never be somebody, look how good he/she is“. Such system of value (such
aproach) has different impact on people of varying
sensibilities.
Broad-minded and sincere individuals, who in their growing up, due to
various reasons, acquired certain courage, encountering this system in their
early youth, develop an open rebellion against it, and are frequently identified
as rebels. Such people are prevalently those disobedient, problematic,
opportunistic, etc.
Broad-minded and sincere individuals, who under the influence of various
factors become „disheartened” persons, in encounter with this system while still very
young, develop an inward pain, grasping the values by which people live, and
this may lead them to mental diseases or at least into a permanent apathy.
Insincere individuals, narrow-minded and lacking sympathy for freedom of
thought, in encounter with the system of conditional love develop chameleonic (hypocritical,
deceptive) forms of behavior which enable them to successfully fit into the
kingdom they live in. This kind of persons have great success in external
adjusting to the system of values in earthly kingdom and they are recognized by
others and declared as the most cultivated neighbors, the most regular debt
payers, the best students (with some honorable exceptions), while at the same
time the values they stand for never really „reach their hearts.“
In a family having three children, where an average value system
prevails, the worthiest child will be the one with least oscillations in behavior
and highest success in achieving what the family deems desirable, while on the
other hand the most criticized one will be the unruly (baulky) child, difficult to approach. This is the reason why
in this world the most esteemed, most influential and most successful people
are often those who are top hypocrites and chameleons, who during their growing
up acquired ability to adjust to the requirements of their environment and
achieve fulfilment of the outer form. Such persons are most often great
opponents of freedom and true love which is unconditional.
In the kingdom of God, the aim is that the subjects have the law of the
kingdom in their minds i.e. hearts, the law that they have accepted with their
free will i.e. by choice, inspired by love they have undeservedly received, while
in the earthly kingdom the aim is to have the subjects satisfy the outer form,
in spite of possibly being against it in their hearts.
Based on what was said above, for whom the news of God's unconditional
love and acceptance, was the most important and happiest news, and for whom was
it just the opposite?
In this selfish world, where the ruling understanding and the law by
which, if one wants to be loved and accepted, he/she must have certain
qualities – beauty, wealth, ability, wisdom... (conditioned system of values or
the system of conditional values), it is clear that without it one will be of
no value and significance to anybody – one will be unaccepted, i.e. rejected,
unloved... In short, everything is reduced to the existence of value (value
condition), even if it was being just an outward attraction and glamour. People
are loved and accepted only if they have some value.
Appearance of God's Son with the message that God's love and acceptance
are unconditional (the only condition being on the side of humans – not to
reject that), was the most important and happiest news for all those who longed
to be loved and accepted for no special reason. Not because of their
achievements or values, but for their real selves as being persons, regardless
of their social status – either coming from the margins of society or from the
esteemed and respected circles. And the fact that God gave Himself as a sacrifice
for the whole world while we were still godless, helpless and enemies to Him,
was the best confirmation of unconditionality of His love and guarantee of its
unchangeability.
That was the news (and still is) for two groups of people – all those
rejected by the society, who in the eyes of that society had no value whatsoever,
people living on the edge. But it was also the news for the people coming from
quite the opposite world – all those respectable persons, renowned and esteemed
for their virtues, talents and wealth, who were tired of the prevailing idea
that love has to be deserved, acquired by proper actions and achievements and
who were fed up (tired) with general selfishness, hypocrisy and corruption.
It is clear that this was not a good news for those who considered
themselves better and smarter than the others, quite outstanding and
exceptional... It was just them who were the greatest and most ardent opponents
of the good news. They were the Pharisees and other persons of similar
convictions, self-righteous and haughty, who believed in conditional love and
acceptance.
Generally speaking, who are the biggest supporters of the conditional
system of values? It is those whom this system makes the most prominent. Those
who have the best abilities and talents, who believe that in life everything
has to be earned and deserved and it is just them who can do it and for this
reason they want to make themselves famous, prominent and distinguished above
all. Glorifying their qualities, the conditional system of values raises them
as persons above all other people, separating them from others and thus,
flattering their haughtiness and vanity... enables them to incorporate their
selves, their achievements, their ego, their big “I” in the salvation [i]
(see endnote with detailed explanation).
The example of Pharisees from chapter 15 of Gospel according to Luke,
who yelled at Christ because He accepted sinners, is an evidence that they
considered that a person can be loved and accepted only if he/she has value of
some kind. And since they regarded these rejected social cases as worthless, it
is not surprising that they reacted so fiercely to Christ's unconditional love
and acceptance. It simply humiliated their haughtiness and ruined their self-opinion
of their own value, specialty, and exceptionality.
So was is then, so it will be now, and so it has always been. For this reason,
the good news about God's unconditional love and acceptance has always been
best accepted by those whom the world regards as wretches and orphans of life,
people who have no value whatsoever in their eyes. But it was Christ who in His
speech on the Mountain of blessings confirmed that such people who realize that
they as such have no value, are the
most valuable ones in God's eyes and that God can do the most through them by
introducing His life and real values. „Blessed are poor in spirit,“ i.e. those
who are conscious of their spiritual poverty.
[i] Certainly, nobody is against success, not even God Himself, if it is not
aimed at raising itself above others. Certainly, the abilities should by no
means be underestimated, as they have their significance and value in some
parts of life, but not in the domain of salvation.
There are several reasons for that – for if
they had the value regarding salvation then it would mean that since not
everybody has the same abilities-gifts, that some will be more eligible to be
saved than the others, which would be unjust and unfair from God. Also, all our
abilities are poisoned by selfishness, and that is perhaps the most important
reason in addition to the one already mentioned.
For the salvation, it is only important to be
able to respond with gratitude to God's love, which again is a gift that can
either be cherished and developed, or neglected, and to constantly get to know
God through study of the Holy Scriptures and daily personal experiences with
Him. This is what strengthen the faith in His unconditional love, acceptance,
undeserveable or undeserved grace (grace that cannot be deserved), affection,
goodness...
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.