What has been, or is, the most tragic thing about your life? What has been, or is, the most redeeming? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, p.387).
In yesterday's blog, I wrote of the insightful moment when Huckleberry
Finn saw that his true interest lay in helping free Jim. This would
not only prove to be a redemptive moment for Jim, but also most
directly for Huck. After conflicted consideration, he resolved that
his love for Jim was more important than the inhibitions of custom
and culture. In this moment he replaced a spirit of fear and
conformity with a spirit of courage, freedom, and service. The snapshot of Huck coming to this fresh insight represents the essential
crossroad that sooner or later will face each of us (though the insight comes by grace, not through self-control of perception).
In
undergraduate school I was hounded by repressive conformity. Picture
me in speech class under this condition. I had lost all the
spontaneous animation I once had as a child. Fear imprisoned me. It
was only later that I learned to concentrate on one thing alone when
before the class—helping each person understand each point of my
presentation. When I took the focus off myself and focused on
helping others understand, my eye contact improved and my speeches
began to flow.
Both
the most tragic and redeeming thing about life lies in perception.
Perception can bind us in ropes or can release us for service. Jesus
spent much of his time trying to free the captives—trying to
empower others by changing their perception from self-centeredness to
love. For example, he said that you are the salt of the earth—in
other words, make an effective contribution to the tone of society
through love. The famous parable of the Good Samaritan makes a
similar point.
Monotheism
is essentially the result of knocking down false gods until only one
is left. We can perceive that redemption lies in a zillion things
before finally arriving at the conclusion made by Candide and
Cunégonde—we
need to love each other and make our garden grow. Concluding that God
is love is the result of trial and error leading finally to
perception of ultimate reality and the immediate and undeniable
experience of positive self-awareness. (In
part to say that Jesus had no sin implies that he alone did not need
to learn this by trial and error.) There is no substitute in any form of
contrived self-confidence to compare to the undeniable and deep sense
of self-worth arising from the exercise of loving service under the
leadership of the Holy Spirit.
A
parent may ask, which do I most want to instill in my children—a
sense of self-confidence or a sense of self-worth? Surely a wise
parent will answer the latter; for self-confidence is a derivative of
success while self-worth is a derivative of love. Self-confidence is
often short-term, shallow, and fickle; whereas self-worth is
timeless. Self-confidence is subject to phoniness and from its
demands can arise neurosis, whereas self-worth is genuine and sure and brings peace.
Self-worth is fertile soil from which grow resolute conviction and
ethical behavior. The art of parenting rests on discernment of the
better course, namely, that of instilling self-worth.
For
human beings, perception is often a single road that leads through
tragedy towards redemption. Learning what true freedom is all about
comes after much trial and error and repeated failures. For many of
us effectiveness is a promise that will only be realized when, like
Huckleberry Finn, we decide at last to generously return in some
small measure the love we have so generously received.
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