Untangled Part 3

There’s a Franciscan monk named Richard Rohr who has given me plenty of philosophical and theological ideas to make my head hurt for weeks. I really appreciate the cerebral and spiritual wrestling matches I’ve found myself in because of things he’s written. One of his hallmarks is this concept of the two halves of life.

“The task of the first half of life is to create a proper container for one’s life and answer the necessary questions: ‘What makes me significant?’ ‘How can I support myself?’ and ‘Who will go with me?’ But the task of the second half of life is, quite simply, to find the actual contents that this container was meant to hold and deliver.”

The first half is all about finding ourselves, establishing a place and a name in this world. From the time we’re born we begin this journey. And many, Richard says, live their entire life in the first half.

The second half, and this is where we discover real life, the life Jesus speaks of that he came to give, the life to the full (John 10:10). In the second half, we spend losing ourselves. We come to a place of surrendering all the work done in the first half, which, by the way, is a necessary journey, according to Rohr.

I used to ask teens this question: What in your life is NOT about you?

I didn’t realize this but it was a second half of life question to a bunch of first half players. Sure, it was an exercise in honest self-evaluation for the purpose of moving toward selflessness. And I sure hope that it was a calling to a life greater than the one they were living, but I didn’t understand then the complexity of the question for the listeners. It was probably like asking a trigonometry question in freshman algebra.

We spent last week in 1 Sam 14 and this week we’re adding chapter 15. Saul cranks things up after the brief success with the Philistines and it’s time to go big. He took on a much greater project of taking out an entire people, the Amalekites. And God gave him specific instructions to destroy this whole nation. Saul took a massive army (210,000 men) and laid waste to this threat. However, the king, Agag, and the best of the sheep, cattle, oxen, and lambs, and “all that was good.”

The name of the Agag means, “I will overtop.” And the nature of God’s rejection of Saul as king is because the heart of Saul became self-centered to the point of rejecting God and choosing his own path.

God takes the very kingdom Saul was building and removes him from the equation because he turned his back on God and began using his position to serve himself. Saul loses the thing he was building.

The results of the first half of life living always lead to death. It kills the chance of us experiencing real life. We must move on to the second half of life, focusing on union with God rather than self-importance.

ENTANGLEMENT: The problem here is that we fall into the illusion of Self-Sufficiency from the disorder of Spiritual Apathy. Many believe they can handle life on their own leading to spiritual complacency or burnout.

Maybe a better first half of life question would be, “Does this ACT make my EGO look BIG?”

UNTANGLING

And to begin the untangling process, we must work at killing the ego. Start by developing a deep dependence on Christ and renewing a passion for faith in God.

I bet Saul would have really benefitted from these words and maybe they will fall fruitful on you.

“The greatest prison people live in is the fear of losing themselves, yet Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. The ego clings to control, but the Spirit calls us to surrender.” — Adapted from Luke 9:23

John 15:5 is good as well.

And two more quotes for your social media posting this week on this subject:

“The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.” — Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

“It is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.” — Prayer of St. Francis

#LegoMyEgo

#Untangled

#RestoringWholenessOfLife 

Brett