Maturing - is it possible?

What constitutes maturing of the human race? I really wonder if I can write this last essay of the series. So much is not about 'me' but about social maturing. Yet so much is wrong, and there are so many setbacks and returns to primal violence whether religious or personal that one despairs of anything in the way of the appearance of completeness in the human condition.

The surprise is that maturing is possible but the individual brings it about by what is not, and by what is indirect. The direct process is the obedience to a command. But what command? and what kind of obedience? Yesterday I thought I could express this. Today I find the words elude me.

I could come straight to the point: Jesus found the means to the end of completeness through his own self-giving. We can also find this but it is by no means obvious. Paul makes the point directly in his conditional phrase: if you by the Spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. How does one mortify deeds? And how did Jesus know this would work? He knew through the psalms - not for their violence, but for their recognition of the character of God as compassionate and not violent. (E.g. Psalm 86).

Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered - (Psalm 68) - indeed - but how? Is it just another local battle? Just another pile of spoils? Just another pile of bodies? No. The answer comes in the form of Psalm 69 - the waters are up to my neck, do not let me slip in the mud, do not leave me in the pit. The enemies that are destroyed are our own inner enemies. Sounds far-fetched, doesn't it? When the wolf is at the door, you kill the wolf, you do not give yourself to it.

I may not finish this task. I am writing on a borrowed hotspot, my wife's phone. My own perished this morning, an ear torn off by a renegade sword, a broken sim-card no longer able to find its network. My wife provided the healed ear and so I write. (See Larry's posts on the ear here). I am writing as I wait fasting for the third day to get into the operation I need to keep on living for a while... probably tonight...

Anyway - it is God who matures and he does it in response to faith - whatever that is. Read Psalms 1, 15, 26, 101, and so on to know the ways in which the human is invited to respond to the character of God. It is not with violence.

I will keep writing on this - if possible. It has a lot to do with what others write about in these difficult times. It begins with giving up the dominance, the me-first, and it begins and continues with care for those who are devastated by those of us who refuse the path of self-giving.

Here's Psalm 116 - I can't escape from the fact that I think it is in the Psalms that Jesus recognizes what must happen to overcome the sin of the world.

116 - now please

אָהַבְתִּי כִּי יִשְׁמַע יְהוָה אֶת קוֹלִי תַּחֲנוּנָי	1	I love for יְהוָה heard the voice of my supplication
כִּי הִטָּה אָזְנוֹ לִי וּבְיָמַי אֶקְרָא	2	for he bent his ear to me and in my days I will call
אֲפָפוּנִי חֶבְלֵי מָוֶת וּמְצָרֵי שְׁאוֹל מְצָאוּנִי צָרָה וְיָגוֹן אֶמְצָא	3	the pangs of death enveloped me and anguish of Sheol found me trouble and sadness I find
וּבְשֵׁם יְהוָה אֶקְרָא אָנָּה יְהוָה מַלְּטָה נַפְשִׁי	4	so in the name of יְהוָה I will call beseeching, יְהוָה, make an escape for my being
חַנּוּן יְהוָה וְצַדִּיק וֵאלֹהֵינוּ מְרַחֵם	5	Gracious is יְהוָה and righteous and our God is compassionate
שֹׁמֵר פְּתָאיִם יְהוָה דַּלֹּתִי וְלִי יְהוֹשִׁיעַ	6	יְהוָה keeps the simple I was brought low and me he saves
שׁוּבִי נַפְשִׁי לִמְנוּחָיְכִי כִּי יְהוָה גָּמַל עָלָיְכִי	7	Return O my being to your rest for יְהוָה has matured you
כִּי חִלַּצְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִמָּוֶת אֶת עֵינִי מִן דִּמְעָה אֶת רַגְלִי מִדֶּחִי	8	for he rescued my being from death my eyes from tears my foot from tripping
אֶתְהַלֵּךְ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה בְּאַרְצוֹת הַחַיִּים	9	I will walk in the presence of יְהוָה in the lands of the living
הֶאֱמַנְתִּי כִּי אֲדַבֵּר אֲנִי עָנִיתִי מְאֹד	10	I believed so I spoke I myself was much afflicted
אֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי בְחָפְזִי כָּל הָאָדָם כֹּזֵב	11	I myself said in my haste every human lies
מָה אָשִׁיב לַיהוָה כָּל תַּגְמוּלוֹהִי עָלָי	12	what will I return to יְהוָה for all his benefits to me?
כּוֹס יְשׁוּעוֹת אֶשָּׂא וּבְשֵׁם יְהוָה אֶקְרָא	13	the cup of salvation I will bear so in the name of יְהוָה I will call
נְדָרַי לַיהוָה אֲשַׁלֵּם נֶגְדָה נָּא לְכָל עַמּוֹ	14	my vows to יְהוָה I will pay may it be before all his people
יָקָר בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה הַמָּוְתָה לַחֲסִידָיו	15	Precious in the eyes of יְהוָה is the death of those under his mercy
אָנָּה יְהוָה כִּי אֲנִי עַבְדֶּךָ אֲנִי עַבְדְּךָ בֶּן אֲמָתֶךָ פִּתַּחְתָּ לְמוֹסֵרָי	16	יְהוָה beseeching, for I myself am your servant I myself your servant and child of your maidservant you have loosed my bonds
לְךָ אֶזְבַּח זֶבַח תּוֹדָה וּבְשֵׁם יְהוָה אֶקְרָא	17	to you I will offer the offering of thanksgiving so in the name of יְהוָה I will call
נְדָרַי לַיהוָה אֲשַׁלֵּם נֶגְדָה נָּא לְכָל עַמּוֹ	18	my vows to יְהוָה I will pay may it be before all his people
בְּחַצְרוֹת בֵּית יְהוָה בְּתוֹכֵכִי יְרוּשָׁלִָם הַלְלוּ יָהּ	19	in the courts of the house of יְהוָה in your centre O Jerusalem Hallelu Yah