The Duplicity of Dust Pt. II: Biblical Examples

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

The Duplicity of Dust

Continuing on dust, if you look closely at dust roaming the air, you can notice that dust hairs never travel in any singular direction. You can hold your hand up to try and catch a piece, but once you make the move to snatch at one, you find it being very elusive to your hand. Even if you hold your hand still, the dust wanders, sometimes towards your hand or sometimes away from it. The dust is able to turn from its own good- the hand- and left to be wandering the air.

James 1: 6-8 says, “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”

We have a duplicitous nature, constantly led by a variety of desires dipped in good and evil motives. We struggle back and forth on this spectrum of good and evil. Back and forth between the two we go, and that is what makes us duplicitous.

Now, speaking in a religious context, the only way we can really know how to distinguish good and evil is because of the absolute morality of the 10 Commandments coming down. In Scripture, we see God send down a code of morality for the Israelites in the desert and then for years after, the Jews regard this as the Law. Usually, in our culture, we see people try to poke holes at the 10 Commandments, saying that it is virtually impossible to be a set of morality because it cannot be fulfilled. A good number of people use this as an argument for why Christianity is “faulty”, but usually when they do this, they take Jesus out of the picture. Jesus says He has come to fulfill the law. And then we see this concept put into understanding in Romans 7 where Paul basically says that the law only makes us conscious of sin, but it is up to the Spirit working in us to redeem our sinful nature. The absolute morality of the 10 Commandments has come down and placed a dividing line on the spectrum between good and evil. But we as a people just became conscious of what good and evil was then. We still struggled being dragged back and forth between the two.

So Jesus came and offered us a way to repent. Now the Greek word for repentance is metanoia, and it basically means after thought or to change one’s mind and as a result change one’s behavior. In Romans 7, Paul points at this change of mind behavior saying that it makes us conscious of sin. In verse 25 it says, “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” By having our mind repent and conform to what God deems as good and bad, we become integrated with direction. From there we want to move towards the good. But outside of God, our own mind becomes the judge of what is good and bad, with no conformity to any sort of foundation other than what society thinks. And even then, society itself struggles with what is good and bad. You see the battleground of this displayed all the time in politics. With God we are integrated with direction because we know what the good is, and by grace we pursue it instead of moving back and forth on the spectrum because we are pursuing our own self-perceived good.

Mary Wollstonecraft, a British writer, philosopher, and advocate for women’s rights in the 18^th century said this quote: “No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistake it for happiness, the good he seeks.” I find some truth in this. We are always pursuing our own good, but in doing so, we keep moving the dividing line between good and evil up and down the spectrum to conform to our own 10 Commandments. We always want to see ourselves in the best possible light, so why not conform to our own law which says we are always pursuing good? Basically the duality between these two positions (a mind conformed to our own law and a mind conformed to God’s law) is this: a purpose for ourselves to seek our own good vs. a purpose for God’s glory, which ultimately works for our good.

Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Notice the plural “plans” verses the singular “purpose.” Ravi Zecharias, a Christian evangelical apologist, says this: “What we need is for our diversity of desires to be unified with purpose.” We have different desires for what is good and we are dragged back and forth because of them. But these desires aren’t really unified under a true purpose. Our purpose is for our good, but our desires go every which way trying to pursue this purpose while the Lord defines for us in the Scripture what is good and gives us a true purpose, one which we can pursue with a singular direction. And this true purpose is given to us in Christ Jesus. Jesus pierces through our duplicity and calls us into a good life with Him.

Outside of Him there really is no purpose that can perfectly integrate all of our desires that are dragging us back and forth.

For instance, if we make ideals our purpose (ex: Purpose of life is love) outside of God, there is no way we can carry out these expressions to the fullest without violating another ideal. If we love too much we end up infringing on someone’s freedom by smothering him or her. Another example of if we love too much, we might end up not working within the parameters of justice.

But with the cross we see it perfectly integrate love, justice, liberty, etc. Out of perfect love, Christ died for us, setting us free from sin and paying the debt owed because of it.

Some make their purpose to be that there is no God. But this isn’t right because it further confuses the desires of men. This is because you have a number of paths you can take. One path is to substitute yourself as God, being your own flawed meaning to the universe. Another way you could go is to propose that life has no meaning, burdening yourself with the hopelessness of a purposeless existence. Or you could make people your salvation. There are too many ways to go if we adopt no God as our purpose!

A true purpose is that which we can pursue with a singular direction. A singular direction is the only way our desires can be perfectly unified, and a purpose should be able to encompass all of our desires. Otherwise it is not a fulfilling purpose. The example of this that is most alive in my life is this: when we have a multiplicity of desires and we can’t fit them under the umbrella of what this world has to offer, then my purpose is not the world but the Kingdom.

With God, we are integrated with a definite direction and purpose. It is as if God wants us to stand before Him as a being who is whole and not torn in every direction while pursuing his own good.

“Teach me your way, O Lord,

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.”

-Psalm 86:11

In the next post, I want to offer Biblical examples of the duplicitous nature of man and how it is overcome through God. 

The Struggle of Dust Pt. III

So if we can't use science to give life meaning, then what about ideals such as love, peace, the pursuit of happiness?

If we look at our culture, we find these ideals being expressed through the disciplines we have discussed in the previous part. Especially in music! But are we to use the Arts as an illustration for what our general culture really cries out and yearns for? Because if we do, then there is our answer for why we aren't suppose to look for these ideals to define meaning for us.

These ideals were created to have a foundation. If we preach these ideals to be the answer without any sort of foundation, then they become transformed and manipulated as we see in the Arts.

For instance, if love is the answer for meaning in life, then why is it expressed through the disciplines as lust and indulgence in sensual satisfaction outside of the sanctity of marriage? Why does it portray the degradation of women as being love?

If power is the answer, then why is it expressed as a manipulation of the weak and poor? Why is it expressed as the collection of money for selfish gain?

And if peace is the answer, then why is it portrayed in so many different lenses? Why isn't it expressed as being one core ideal achieved through one way? And most of the times (at least what I see), why isn't it expressed at all? We see peace become meshed together with ideals of love and power, which say, if we fall in love then there will be peace or if we obtain power then there will be peace.

There is no peace within the wandering heart. Through the disciplines it is as if we have forced down the real reticent cries of our heart- cries for significance and for foundation. 

We are but dust wandering the air longing for a foundation to give us significance. This foundation we long for is not defined by abstract ideals or science. But rather, it is defined by being greater than us. In being dust, we find our significance by resting on the foundation that is bigger than us.

For me, all I am is defined by my foundation in Christ. I wish not to commit forgery on the signature of life by claiming it as my own. And when all eyes are on me, I wish not to commit perjury by living like it is. And now as you read this, I wish not to commit plagiarism by claiming this work as my own, but rather as literature inspired by the One who gave me meaning.

The Struggle of Dust Pt. II

How has life become devalued to the point where we long to establish meaning for ourselves? It is because we look to different foundations to provide meaning to life. For instance, science.

Science works in a different realm than religion does. We are not to use it to solve any purpose outside its intended purpose, much like I don't use math to solve why I'm going to hang out with my friends. Science works in the realm of providing understanding for the "whats" of life, not the "whys." It is the same for its brothers, history and math. 

If we use math to solve the question of life, then life merely becomes a set of numbers and equations. Relationships deem its value in cost and we ourselves inherit a price tag to define the cost of life. 

If we use history to solve the question of life, then life becomes a continuous effort of not repeating itself. We define the present and the future by the past and any opportunity for anything new becomes shadowed by a fear that it was never accomplished in the past. 

If we use science to solve the question of life, then life becomes nothing but matter strung together by chance. If each of these instances, life is devalued.

But then enters the disciplines by which we can express life. Such disciplines are Art (paintings and music), English (works of literature), and Philosophy. Now Religion in all of this becomes a glue that holds these disciplines together in a life-giving manner. If Science took the place of Religion is expressing itself through the disciplines, then we find it not promoting life. Instead, it'll promote that matter with no purpose defines us. But Religion holds all these disciplines together in a way that when we see its expression, our self might be edified and uplifted with hope. It fulfills the purpose of the disciplines.

For life expressed through Art, God is the culmination of colors into a masterpiece, the canvas, and the painter. For life expressed through English, God is the period at the end of the sentence that makes it complete. For life expressed through Philosophy, God is the Ultimate Truth to be reasoned with.

In Part III I will discuss another way in which we define meaning in life and conclude.

The Struggle of Dust

My eye stood fixated upon a light background. As my pupils adjusted to the variance of light, I could see dust hairs floating in the open expanse of air. They floated round seeking a place to establish its residence.

This is the struggle of dust. It wanders the air longing for significance. But the only way for it to be significant is if it gathers on a foundation that holds.

Considering this, there is truth in the statement where God says in Genesis 3:19, "For dust you are and to dust you will return." How long has the struggle of humanity been characterized by a longing for significance? We want to see ourselves as something more than dust, but oddly, our significance comes in the stunning revelation that dust is all we are. 

But to acknowledge ourselves as dust is to acknowledge something greater than ourselves. For if all dust wants is to perch its weary, wandering head on a place where it can truly rest, than that place, that foundation, must be significantly greater than ourselves.

I, just one spec of dust, used to be a Film major. And while I was a Film major, I found that the way a shot in a movie is set up plays a role into how we are to interpret the scene. For instance, we are to interpret a shot of a person looking into a mirror as a person examining him or herself. Two people separated by some barrier in the shot is suppose to signify the struggle of their separation. But then I switched to a Philosophy and Religion major and I found the same concept echoed in my studies. What if our present reality is set up in such a way that it plays a role into how we are to interpret life?

But to consider this would mean that we have to acknowledge that life has meaning. This is where the struggle of dust is fed into by: the dust longs for significance because of a prevailing belief that life has no meaning so they have to establish meaning for themselves. Somewhere along the line, life has become devalued. 

In Part II I will talk about how life has become devalued.

Standing Upon A Grave Of Dirt: An Imperfect Recollection of a Perfect Rescue

The sun beamed down upon that hill of green. A warm wind brushed against me, moving the blades of grass in its path. They danced from side to side in a joyful jubilation that gave life to the hill. This hill had surely been given new life since I last stood upon it. And now, here I am, years later, standing again on this hill.

As I stood there, I started to think how I’ve regrettably taken the idea of standing for granted. For the last time I was on this hill, I was laid down. I was laid down in shame. The inability to stand ripped me of my humanity. Imagine having the knowledge that you could stand, but you were oppressed to the point where all you were capable of doing was lying down. The idea of being able to stand but not doing so deprived me of all my human nature claimed I was capable of. So naturally, I must have not been human.

And then, just when I thought my shame could not elevate anymore, I was placed below the ground. It is with great distaste that I say this, but I was placed within a coffin below the ground, left to die. I find it funny that my lowest point in life was that when I was lower than the ground I walk on. Yet there was nothing funny about the situation. At that one point in time, I was ripped of not only my humanity but also my state of being. The only way that I could have let that harm beat its swollen fists upon me was if I was dead, and did not exist at all.

My captors mocked me, scorned me, despised me, and beaten me. In their hatred they sought to snatch everything I had: my pride, my humanity, and my life. They made me dig my own grave that fateful night I was last on this hill. I grasped the shovel, the tool of my demise, with clenched fists curling in anger against them. But as I dug myself deeper in the dirt, I found that in my inability to be human, I could feel no anger against them. Instead, I placed myself below them, numb to the pain inflicted upon me.

The next thing I knew, I was in my wooden coffin, laid below layers of dirt. I had been buried “alive.” But was I really alive? For if four walls surround me, and I have no hope of anything outside these four walls, then surely I am dead. There below the dirt, there was no hope of breathing the fresh air again. There was no hope of feeling light beat upon my skin. There was no hope, period.

At first, I began to panic. With my limited breath, I screamed and yelled. But I found with my limited air supply that the more breath I used to yell, the more I was suffocating myself.

Then I began to beat against the lid of the coffin. But the sound was being soaked up in the layers of dirt. I was merely exhausting my energy in vain.

My mouth was painfully dry from all this useless work. The only sustenance I had was the sweat dripping off my forehead. Yet this sweat was dripping down to the base of the coffin. I tipped my head up for the sweat to flow to my mouth, but as I knocked my head against the lid, the sweat dripped back down to where it was useless.

At this point, I cried, not out of seeking another source of water, but out of utter hopelessness. As tears gushed down my face, I found the last thing that made me human escape me. The tears would soon dry up and I would be left a hopeless shell of a being.

It was then that I sought to grow familiar with my surroundings. The only family I had beneath the earth was the dirt that enveloped me. My brother was dirt, my sister was dirt, my mother was dirt, my father was dirt, and I was dirt.

Despair soon turned to a realization of the present situation. I had no hope of anything outside my coffin, so I was dead inside. Dead to any hope, which I was frantically trying to grasp while in my coffin, yet all of that was just a vain effort to feel human. I was not human. I was dirt.

But then, I heard a shuffle above. Could this be? Was someone walking above me? A shred of hope entered me, and with that I began to move. But it was a limited movement, for I was still confined within my coffin.

The shuffling above the dirt turned to what sounded to me like thunder banging upon the clouds. The dirt was now giving way to light, which crept through the crevices of my wooden coffin. I moved more, but my movement, my exerted effort, led to my destruction. My mind slipped away with my breath, and I was no more. Or so I thought.

The next sight I laid my eyes upon was a blurry figure shadowed by the blanket of night. He or she had filled my lungs full of air, so now I was able to breathe for myself. I held onto this air that wasn’t mine with hopes that it would rejuvenate my mind long enough to see the face of my rescuer. Yet I was unable to.

And that is all I remember of that incident. At first I tried to shut it out of my mind to be forever lost in an abyss where trauma establishes its residence. But then I sought to hold on to it. Why you might ask? Because it gave me a new revelation of this ground I walk on. I stand because Someone brought me out of where I was laid down. I breathe to live because Someone gave me breath to live. I am human because Someone revived my humanity when they saw me worthy enough to come out of the dirt.

The grave where I lied was no longer an evident monument. The mound of dirt was replaced with the life of grass teeming over it. As I stood witness to this sight, my bare feet dug into the dirt, almost as a means to establish myself back to that moment. The moment where I was no different than the dirt. But now I stand upon the glory that Someone saw me, or sees me, as different. And with that conviction, I walked away from that site. I walked away with my toes clasping the dirt and head held high towards the heavens. 

The Self-Centered God

Pictures of stars and galaxies afar made my imagination flare. Why would God create such wondrous beauties far beyond our grasp, but still allow them to take our breath away through a mediated image of them? Lets face it: if these stars and galaxies are just a string of cosmic reactions that are purely coincidence, then we probably would have been blown up by now. But if God made these to display His glory, now that is something that makes sense. 

God loves His glory, and He loves to display His glory. We see evidence of this in nature and life. They all reflect His glory. But what if I told you that God is for His own glory. He is centered upon His glory and is concerned about His glory being exalted. Well, that makes him a self-centered, kind of selfish God, right? I once had a friend told me that he was leaving community because he didn't want to believe that God was primarily for Himself. If we say that then we say we would rather have an idolatrous God because its idolatry to hold anything to His standard outside of Himself (Isaiah 42:8). 

Humanity has tainted the idea of self-centeredness to the point where the very God who made us is considered "selfish" for making us for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). But John Piper explains this in a great way saying: "He must be for Himself if He is to be for us." The glory emanating from His presence is the highest thing in all of existence, so if He wasn't for the exaltation of His glory then it would almost be as if He is giving way for evil to reign. We merely receive the blessing of Him working for His own glory.

Now the issue is how humanity views the idea of self-centeredness. This idea becomes renewed or transformed in God. To explain, God is centered on His glory and He is motivated by the exaltation of His glory and that spills out onto His people for His praise. Now to apply this idea to ourselves, we can be motivated by our own joy or happiness or love as long as it is also centered on the exaltation of God's glory.

As Christians we generally rebuke the idea of being "for ourself." This is considered selfish, especially in light of 1 Cor. 13:5 which says, "love is not self-seeking." We have denied the idea that we can be motivated by something that is self-gratifying. Yet we all are motivated by something that is self-gratifying. If we desire Heaven and to be with God, then aren't we ultimately being motivated by something we want for ourself? This is echoed a number of times in the New Testament by the disciples and especially by Paul!

I will take the idea of joy to prove my point. In Philippians 2:2, Paul says, "then make my joy complete . . ." Paul wants for himself for his joy to be complete. But his joy is not something he draws from solely for himself. His joy is in the Lord, and it is because of this joy that his joy becomes synonymous with the joy of others (1 Thess. 2:19-20, Phil. 4:1). And that is what happens when we draw from the joy of the Father! Its spills out in abundance for other people to also praise Him! It is only because His joy is centered on the exaltation of God's glory that his own joy becomes transformed in such a way that though it pleases himself, it is not in the least sense selfish. We see this in Matthew 13:44 also where the man who finds the treasure in the field is motivated by His joy to sell everything he has. We don't call this man selfish for finding satisfaction in his joy, we call him wise! Because his joy was for the exaltation of God's glory.
Then there is the example of Jesus. In Romans: 15:3 it speaks the truth that Christ did not please Himself. But we know that Christ came to die for our sins and that was the mission set forth by God. He was mainly centered on glorifying His Father in Heaven (John 17:4-5). But Jesus had joy in returning to His Father. This is seen in Hebrews 12:2 where it says: "who for the joy set before Him endured the cross." Jesus had a motivating joy, and while this joy would satisfy Him, it is for the benefit of us all that this joy would satisfy Him. The fulfillment of Jesus' joy means that He has completed His Father's task and that we have been reconciled with God. Him being motivated by His own joy to glorify God is not in the least sense selfish. If Jesus was mainly concerned for His own joy, He wouldn't have endured the cross. 
And thats how it is for a lot of us. It is for our benefit in the Kingdom of God that someone who is centered on God's glory is motivated and fulfilled in their joy of Him. We are built up by someone who is motivated by their own joy, but this joy has to be centered on the exaltation of His glory, because if it isn't, then it is a joy that is truly centered on them self for their own satisfaction.

Just like John Piper said: "He must be for Himself if He is to be for us." But in the same way, we must be for Him, if we are to be, in the right nature, for ourself.

"We who are strong ought to bear with

the failings of the weak and not to please

ourselves. Each of us should please His neighbor

for his good, to build him up.

For even Christ did not please Himself . . . "

-Romans 15:1-3