There are those who argue without law society would decay or
crumble. In our world, and our reality,
this is true. But the reason for it is
our innate self-interest. We seek
fairness in a world that is not fair. We
seek justice and equality from people who are not inclined to share these with
us. And in truth we are not inclined to
share it ourselves. Naked self-interest
lies behind every evil action taken or perpetrated in our world today. Someone decides to enrich themselves at the
expense of another. Whether it is the
degenerate criminal who decides to take his momentary ‘pleasure’ in the abuse
over a weaker victim; or simply the co-worker who maneuvers behind the scenes
to steal the promotion that might have gone another way; self-interest defines
the motives and the nature of both and the reason why we need laws and a formal
punitive justice system.
Though it may be hard to envision, imagine for a moment what
a world would be like where no-one was motivated by self-interest even in the
least of ways. Utopia or Nirvana to
some, Heaven to others; there are many names for it, but only one defining
characteristic – the entire lack of self.
There would exist no theft in a place where you could build anything you
wanted, or more often receive it as a gift from anyone you encountered. In this environment the “things” that have
value today because they are “rare”, “exclusive”, or “ornate” become
commonplace and too easy to access, revealing their real value to be what it
truly was all along - of no effect. When
“things” lose their perceived value, there is no reason to steal anymore.
Imagine again what the complete lack of self-interest would
do to romantic relationships. If your
entire purpose in life was to make your partner happy, to bring them joy,
peace, contentment, and fulfillment – could you not achieve this goal. And what if the process of pleasing your
partner became the very thing that brings you your own joy, contentment,
fulfillment, and peace? What if you discovered
that is was only in “the giving” where the source of joy was found? How strong would marriages be? It makes arguing about things that have no
real value, a historical footnote, not a current distraction. In fact conflict disappears entirely when
first and foremost and to the exclusion of all other concerns is the making of
your spouse happy. Devotion becomes
automatic. And if both were similarly
engaged, perhaps only a contest of service might be the thing that emerges
between them. Happiness unlimited and
eternal in nature becomes the day to day lifestyle.
You do not need to be told “not to steal” when there is no
reason to steal. You do not need to be
told “to be faithful to your spouse” when your spouse is the singular love of
your life who you could not imagine living without for even a second. When you derive your own joy from the effort
to please another, self-interest can be placed in its coffin for good. It does not mean the rules cease to exist, it
means the reason for the rules ceases to be relevant. We will all one day live beyond the rules,
when it is our hearts and motives that conform to the government of heaven
itself, and align again with the character and nature of our Creator God.
Evil brought with it the structure of rules, punishment, and
even death. These characteristics are
the hallmarks of evil and effects it leaves on anything it encounters. Our current justice system is our feeble
attempt at arriving at equality when every motive in the game wars against
it. The concept that “greed is good”
because the conflicts between your greed and my greed may somehow achieve
balance – ignores the reality that whoever has more greed between us may find
alternative ways of overcoming the balance and achieving the self-minded goals
no matter what the cost to the other party.
Survival of the fittest perhaps – yes – until only one remains for where
self-interest is king – there can be only one.
So what will it take to achieve the ability to live beyond
the rules? I believe it begins with
recognizing the truth about the nature of evil.
We too often buy into the concept that evil needs to be preserved,
maintained and protected in our lives and characters. We act as if losing something of evil origins
would be a severe detriment to our ability to conduct day to day living. So we cling to evil. We cling to momentary pleasures. Even when we sense that it is leading us
nowhere, leaving us unfulfilled or empty, we cling to the lies that evil must
still be maintained. Maybe it will get
better if we get enough right? No. Evil is the source of our pain, not a symptom
of it. Evil is the genesis of our
demise, the author of death and pain, not a result of it. It is evil that must be extinguished within
us if we are to really achieve living.
And after we see evil for what it is we begin to recognize
our absolute inability to self-cleanse from it.
Despite our best efforts to remove it from us, we fail and falter over
and over and over again. The simple
truth is that humanity has not the capacity to remove evil from itself. This is why the plan of Redemption or
Salvation was first created by our God before we even came into existence. Once our original free-will choice in the
Garden of Eden went badly, our species was doomed to slavery and subservience
to evil forevermore unless our God did something to change it for us. We would no longer be able to alter our
condition for ourselves. But God could
still do it for us, if we chose to let Him.
And so His plan to answer the Satanic demands for justice
and redeem the hearts of man from the evil he was enslaved to was enacted. Christ while perfectly innocent of any wrong
doing, having lived His life in complete submission to the will of His Father,
took on our punishment, our burdens, and our death and separation from God. Then He rose again, and enabled hope within
us to end the condition of evil in our lives.
Still not in our own strength as our capacity to end evil in our lives
remains dysfunctional; but by submitting our will, our decisions, our wants and
needs to Christ – He would remove the evil from us. In our submission, and our reliance on Him, we
find His strength removing from us what we could not do. And in Him alone we can find peace.
The rules that define evil and measure equality are not
required when all that remains of self-interest lies in a tomb. Look for a minute at the example of Christ
teaching his followers about their responses to theft. A disciple complains about someone stealing
his coat. Christ says to offer the thief
his shirt as well, in effect to give even more to the thief than he stole from
you. Christ does not condone theft in
this; He never says it was “OK” to steal.
Instead He focuses on the reaction and thoughts of the victim, steering
the victim to the work of redeeming the thief.
By offering a gift of even more things to the thief, Christ
is encouraging love for your enemies in practical terms. Christ knows the thief will be amazed by this
gesture. Instead of demands for justice
and equality, He is given a reward his actions do not warrant. The victim of theft, is reminded by giving
even more of his own belongings, that NOTHING he owns is really his. The victim of theft is taught that ALL things
are of NO real value, and asked to trust in God for his current and future
needs. The victim of theft, is given a
lesson that the relationship he will establish with the thief is MORE important
that any of his own things. And the
victim of the theft, in offering love to the thief, may just melt the heart of
thief and result in leading the thief to the redemption offered by Christ. Christ in His mercy can then begin the work
of removing the desire to steal from the heart of the thief. And in this BOTH are saved, without thoughts
of justice or equality – only mercy and forgiveness and love. In this process enemies are restored to
brothers in Christ, a family made whole again, despite the attempts of evil to
separate them.
It is NOT natural to return love to someone who offers us
only hate. It is not natural in this
world, and will not be required in the next one. But in the next world to come, offering love
unconditionally is natural, it is only the audience that will change, not the
offering of love to each other. In this
world when we offer love unconditionally it falls on the mean, nasty, and
self-interested as well as those who return love to us. In the next world, the power of love will
have converted the hearts of all who submitted their lives to Christ, and we
will find only love returned there. To
live beyond the rules required by evil, this is the goal, this is the hope, and
one day this will be our reality …
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