The Pattern of the World
It’s hard to imagine the opportunity we had in the Garden.
The implications boggle the mind.
To start life in a place where there’s no degeneration, no
slipping backwards, is beyond anything we normally experience.
We pull a weed today so plants can gain the upper-hand but
during the night all that changes.
Weeds spring up making it necessary to work back to where we
left off the day before. The
human condition is three steps forward and two steps back, like
communication at the tower of Babel.
Before the confusion it took little to no effort to work
together but after, there was a major obstacle to progress.
Of course we deserve it.
In fact, our life of toil keeps us out of more mischief. But
there was none of this in the garden, east of Eden.
In the garden there was no toil.
We had the opportunity to learn the nuances of creation
taught by the designer in a fresh Universe.
It was a house built for us to learn in, to play in and grow.
Play is the right word.
Even though we were designed for work, it wasn’t our
inherited toil. It’s the
kind of work we love to do, the kind of work we immerse ourselves in
and time seems to fly.
The kind of work we call enjoyable.
In the garden there were forests and orchards, meadows and
fields and a grand world of animals.
He was teaching right there alongside us, showing us
everything from physics to art, a true father.
This garden was a great place for the family to grow.
The garden, east of Eden, was
a seed for the rest of the world and the Earth a seed for the
Universe. It was
an inspiring place to start, a place where all our needs were met,
where every act of love moved us continually forward and we never
slipped back. In the
garden there was no competition or law of the jungle.
Interaction was the
foundation of everything, natural and responsive, a parent with his
children and children with their parent.
It’s interesting that we were designed with needs in that
perfect world.
Emotional, physical and intellectual needs were built into us from
the beginning. Our senses
were developed with an appreciation for some things and a disregard
for others. We could
walk in the garden harvesting at will combining tastes and textures,
experimenting and learning, grimacing and laughing.
But these needs later-on, were found to run much deeper than
our five senses. We were
found to have needs of security, personal value, pleasure, purpose
and much more.
Why would he design
these needs? It seems
they were built-in as relational homing-beacons.
Consider this; we have the need for security, the idea of
desiring safety. We’re
working out in the forest and suddenly feel alone and vulnerable.
Then he’s there and we absorb a sense a safety.
Or, we’re building our first prototype of a boat down by the
lake and we begin to wonder where we fit in the scope of this huge
creation. Then he’s
there and we absorb how priceless we are to him.
Or we’ve been working hard, he arrives and we absorb
recreation and pleasure.
Our fulfillment doesn’t come from the gifts he gives us, we gain
complete satisfaction from him personally.
Then it happened, we all know the story.
We heard that there were options beyond him.
We could see there were other possibilities for satisfaction,
possibilities pleasing to the eye and giving the impression that we
could become wise. There were options to having our needs met other
than him. So we turned
to external creation, rather than our parent for fulfillment.
It was impulsive, no doubt
about that. Who would
rationally give up fulfillment for independence?
Who would throw away wholeness for pride?
Why would someone give-up a relationship based on love for a
relationship of exploitation?
You’ve got me, but we did it and continue to do it every
single day. It happened
and we were barred from the garden, symbolic of the loss we
experienced. God
said we would die and come to find out, we did.
The enemy led us to believe God wasn’t being upfront.
He implied that we wouldn’t
keel-over dead if we ate it. But
we did die in a much more significant way.
We survived to live an unfulfilled life, separated from the
true resource we needed. And
self-absorption was born in us.
It took sometime before the pain was felt but it would run
deep. As those old needs
arose he was no longer available.
We were on our own to fend for ourselves. The trees, the
fields and the animals had all changed and now the environment was
hostile and competitive.
But worse, much worse, our emotional needs had no resource at all.
At least we could pull weeds so plants could thrive, but we couldn’t
reach him anymore to calm our fears, give us purpose or inspire us.
This was a poignant living death similar to hell, only limited in
time, not so intense and offering a chance of hope.
Our needs had been designed to be fulfilled by our Father,
who is eternal and infinite. He’s what we needed to function
normally. Now we were
left to fend for ourselves with only external, finite and temporal
resources. No matter how much
we gathered for ourselves we were left famished.
Our needs were now a bottom-less pit.
We couldn’t make a dent, insatiable.
This created a couple of dynamics.
First, since we all have infinite needs, but only finite
resources, competition for those resources became intense.
Secondly, since we had this
inability to satisfy our needs our focus shifted to
‘doing our best’ rather
than the possibility of fulfillment.
No longer was there time to learn, to develop, experiment
and wonder. Now every
waking moment was thrown after our project and there was never
enough. Some things looked
like they’d satisfy us, but in the end provided only a momentary
rush. And the next time
we would need more in escalation, to produce the same experience.
Our expectations changed.
We did the best we could, and then tried to mask the pain.
We built philosophies that tried to justify the pain.
Family traditions developed to deal with the pain.
The world, together, fell into the same pattern attempting
fix the human condition.
We learned to adapt. We
learned to compete, manipulate and plan.
Families tried to help their children compensate for this
emaciated state with prejudice, affluence and intrigue.
As society grew, rhythms and patterns developed.
Instead of fulfillment, survival became the expectation.
A universal pattern instinctually evolved where everyone used
external resources, either material or human, in the attempt to meet
personal needs. There
were no other options. People
exploited and took advantage of others for their own security,
image, pleasure and purpose. They began to systematically harvest
resources not with the original intent, but now to use for
fulfillment. This
is what Paul talks about in Romans 12:2,
“Do not conform any
longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.”
Those who have not come to repentance have no choice but to
continue to conform to the pattern of the world using external
resources trying to solve internal needs.
But the repentant have
another option. In
re-union with God fulfillment can be absorbed again.
Something that was lost so very long-ago was one of the
things regained because of the cross of Christ and his resurrection.
But the repentant can also
remain in the pattern of the world out of habit, conditioning or
even stubbornness. They can simply keep-on in the old system,
wasting their entire life, grieving God.
Drug abuse, immorality, materialism, cultural religion,
deception, intimidation and isolation are not the pattern of the
world. These simply
emerge from those who practice the world’s system.
The pattern of the world is conceptual, a way of thinking.
It’s the manipulating of circumstances, resources and people
in the pursuit of satisfaction and peace.
We don’t live in a garden anymore, we live in a jungle.
Yet, being re-united with God
can bring back the fulfillment we were designed for, but that won’t
happen as long as we continue practicing the pattern of this world.
How do we recognize it?
It’s actually quite simple, keep the phrase in mind:
Using external resources to
solve internal problems. It
takes practice but you can expose it.
“I’m depressed,” some say, “I think I’ll go shopping.” Or,
“I’m peopled-out, I think I’ll stay home from church today.”
Or,
“I’m bored, can I go play with my friends?”
These are pretty basic examples of having an internal need
and trying to manage it.
The pattern itself is addictive because it never really helps though
it does give momentary bursts of encouragement, just enough to keep
us coming back. Our practice in the system becomes much more
invasive and subtle over time.
“My marriage is going down-hill, but I’m finding comfort with
a friend at work.” Or,
“I would feel better during these economically troubling days
if I had a bit more stuffed away for a rainy day.”
Or,
“I’m getting really sick of work today, maybe a mocha will
get me through.”
I think you can see the pattern as it plays over and over
again. If you listen
carefully to yourself and those around you, you can even sense the
need that is being expressed.
“I was discussing a Newsweek article with my 6-year-old
yesterday.” Or,
“I’m not taking that demeaning job.”
Or,
“We spent last summer in Tuscany.”
Yes, we’re hopeless, enslaved to a broken record.
Career is a major tool used in practicing the pattern.
It’s used to pursue security and many other things.
It drives the whole education system, attempting to increase
the odds of getting a good job.
Then once we do, we look for tenure or seniority and the
building of those retirement programs that give a sense of future
stability. But there’s
never enough.
Career can also be used in our pursuit of personal value,
where our education and experience reflects upon who we are.
Career can contribute to
pleasure. The old adage
says, “Do what you like to do”.
Of course everything becomes toil, but if that toil has a residual
amount of enjoyment for us pleasure can sporadically occur.
There can also be pleasure in
building a horde of treasure, or the pleasure of functioning in a
specific environment that pleases us.
Career can also provide purpose if we’re doing something we
think will make a difference.
We can move vertically
in organizations to pursue image, security and pleasure.
We can move horizontally between organizations looking for
that right place to practice our specialty, which can provide
pleasure, image and security.
And, of course, we can gain money with our career, another
external resource at our command.
These are tools used in practicing the pattern of the world.
Interestingly enough we’re
not content with just exploiting people, resources and circumstance.
The religious person can also exploit God, asking him to help
them attain their goals.
Oddly enough he allows it, hoping that his kindness will eventually
lead them to repentance.
We also find the pattern of the world invading religious
ministry through career.
One can join ministry organizations moving either vertically or
horizontally much in the same way as in the corporate world. There’s
no sacred place that the pattern won’t enter and justify itself.
We not only have limited
resources to work with, we have limited perspective making us blind
to its presence. It’s a sorry dilemma.
There’s no place we’re safe, until we come to repentance.
Then we have the ability to break-off our conformation to the
pattern of the world.
Even though it saturates everything around us, we can be
transformed. This
transformation begins in our minds, in our ability to recognize and
understand the grasp it has on us.
Then we can set out on a mission to overcome it.
That mission itself melts us into a partnership with God as
we work out a lifestyle he desires.
And since we are close to him in this work, we are in a great
place to have our needs met by absorption.
It is awkward at first to have our needs met by God, but
that’s what we were designed for in the first place. As we feel a
need we can respond to the homing-beacon and run to him.
Only when our needs
are completely met are we able to focus on others.
And as that happens we became more and more self-unaware. It
doesn’t happen over night, but we can quit conforming to the pattern
of the world immediately.
We ask him to help us recognize it and break the habit.
Once traveling this path, we can function beautifully no
matter what the circumstance. As
we turn to help others, we should first help our children.
It’s best to break the habit early on.
We can help them recognize
the pattern and respond to God for their needs.
This can begin at a very early age.
But in any case, for the
repentant disciple it’s really a command not an option:
“Do
not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind.”
Lord, help us to
detect and quit practicing the world’s system. May we come to you
for our fulfillment, gently encouraging others to do the same.