In the last post, we discussed
how God is an all-encompassing purpose that envelops our duplicitous, sinful
nature that drags us back and forth on this never-ending chase of our own
self-perceived good. Our duplicity of good and bad is conquered through Christ
who gives us the direction of where to go by establishing good, and then
integrating us with a purpose that integrates our desires in a perfect manner
to be fulfilled with him. If you need a refresher, check out the post The
Duplicity of Dust.
This post is to offer Biblical
examples of this duplicity at work. Why? Because I believe Scripture to be the
most life-changing, inspirational, and critical piece of literature in the fact
that it is not purely literature meant to entertain parts of the mind, but it
is God-breathed meant to impact our mind and heart for the sake of Christ.
So my first example is in Matthew
19:16-22 with the story of the rich young man. The first thing to notice is
when the man asks Jesus what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life,
Jesus answers by establishing what good is. He says only God is good. And in
that, by establishing good, He offers direction. The man now knows what is
good, so He won’t follow His own interpretation of what good is. Next, the man
notices that there is something more to the Commandments. In verse 20, he says
that he has kept all the Commandments that Jesus has commanded but he still
lacks. This correlates with what I said in my last post about how the
Commandments merely makes us conscious of sin. In this case, it is making the
rich young man conscious that he is lacking. He seeks a solution, which is only
available in Christ. In verse 21, Jesus says to sell all his possessions. He
says this not because He is saying this is what it takes for all of us to
inherit eternal life, but rather because Jesus notices that the rich young man
is married to his possessions. In order for him to adopt a new identity as a
child of God, he has to be divorced from His stuff. And the result: the rich
young man turns his back on his own good. He could not overcome his duplicity
because he could not confront who he truly was before a holy and righteous God.
The identity of a rich young man was far to better for him to pass up than
being a child of God. Because being a child of God meant to look at his
identity as a rich young man and say to it that it holds no significance in the
grand scheme of things. But the man chose not to believe this truth, and as a
result, he will forever be haunted by his duplicity.
In the last post we talked about
how the 10 Commandments exposed the people for who they were. They were in
need. We see that definitely applied in this story with the rich young man.
Only when we confront our true nature of being in need can we follow the
solution to that need. And it is in following that solution that we are offered
the direction and purpose that conquers our duplicity.
But what about the times before
the 10 Commandments? Do we still see people in need and struggling with a
duplicitous nature? The answer is yes, and I will use some examples to explain.
In Genesis 27, Jacob confronts
his father, Isaac, pretending to be his brother, Esau. He did this in order to
obtain the birthright in a deceitful manner, the birthright that belonged to
Esau. In verse 18, Isaac asks who is it that approaches him for he is an old
man who is losing his senses. Isaac says he is Esau. Out of deceit and
trickery, he gains the birthright and takes off with it, haunted by the torment
and fear that his brother would exact revenge on him. All he wanted was to be
blessed by his father. But now a couple chapters later in chapter 32, Jacob is
looking for another man, which turns out to be his Heavenly Father, to bless
him. In verse 27, the man, who is God, asks what his name is. Now, why would
God ask what his name is? Doesn’t He already know? Of course. God is concerned
with how Jacob will answer. And Jacob answers rightly, with his own name. And right after that Jacob is given a new identity. It is the new identity of
Israel which blesses generations long after him.
You see what happened here? Jacob
was only blessed when he owned up to who he really was: the lying, deceiving
man of Jacob. And after that, he receives the blessing he so desperately
sought. He then became someone different. He was given a new identity which
goes far beyond him. Does this sound familiar? To me, it sounds like coming
into faith with Jesus. When we come to Jesus, we confront who we really are:
sinful, broken, and in need of saving. Then we are given a new identity with
Him, now being a child of God. It is the latter identity that changes the world
and generations after.
But now, let me pull another
example to show how the world responds to this new identity.
In Genesis 41:41-52, Pharaoh
gives authority to Joseph. But Egyptians are not too keen of Hebrews. In order
for Joseph to assume power over the Egyptians, he is given An Egyptian name and
an Egyptian wife. Basically, the world gives him a new identity. But later in
verses 51-52, Joseph gives his children Hebrew names, which suggests that he
honored his identity given to him in God. Now later in Genesis 42-45, Joseph
continues to be duplicitous. The brothers who gave him up for slavery now came
to Egypt in want of food from Joseph. But Joseph, undertaking his Egyptian
identity, asserts power over his brothers and torments them. It is only when
Joseph makes himself known to them for who he truly is, is there reconciliation
and peace. It is then that he and others outside of himself receive the blessing
of God.
The world will try to counter our
original identity in God by stacking on ever-changing identities for us to
conform to. But those identities, offering no true purpose, further confuse us
by throwing a variety of desires out there for us to follow. But then comes the
call of Jesus. Jesus, giving us a true direction and purpose, reintroduces us
to our identity of being a child of God, and it is only then do we truly bless
ourselves and others. By conforming to the identity the world gives us, we just
further aggravate the problem. But by conforming to our original identity do we
find ourselves in peace and reconciliation. Yet the important thing to remember
is that this only happens when we confront who we really are before a Holy and
Righteous God. We conquer our duplicity by fishing through the lies we have constructed
to be our identities, and then bringing that before the cross.
Though we might be a duplicitous
people, bringing led astray by every so desire, we were created for a singular
purpose from a singular origin. It is only through seeing how our identity has
strayed so far from that singular origin that we can be brought through to the
singular salvation that conquers our duplicitous nature.
"The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their
duplicity."
-Proverbs 11:3
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