The exact two solutions that are at the centre of any personal or circumstantial struggle we have, the two requirements for survival and growth, seem to be these:
- Being founded in God - having a firm foundation, something unchanging when circumstances fall apart or people disappear and disappoint, which they will. Struggle is guaranteed, but God is really the only refuge and source of strength that doesn’t change or evaporate.
- Being connected with people - We can physically feel the change in our bodies and minds when we’ve had a good connection with a person; seen and been seen, accepted and been accepted. Expanded and questioned and learned and grown, sharpened one another. Ruminating in isolation always winds us up in depression and anxiety for a reason: we aren’t designed to be alone.
These two things are exactly the way Jesus summed up the “law and the prophets.” The religious leaders had gotten so lost in the rules and regulations, the weeds and dogmas of doctrine, that they missed the point; they missed the heart. They’d become “whitewashed tombs,” beautiful on the outside, with a high level of material wealth and status, but empty shells inside. They were using these religious rules and traditions just as we now use posturing, distractions, image, and instant gratification when we’re playing the short game without investing in relationships and the pursuit of God.
It’s a really beautiful symbiosis when things are in their proper place. We get to thrive, give, and connect with others in meaningful ways, without worshipping or desperately needing them (which always leads to using and controlling them, eventually suffocating the relationship).
He said “truly the whole law is summed up in:
Love the Lord your God,
and love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-39)
What’s particularly interesting to me about this is:
The fact that our deepest needs are God’s most distilled commandments to us and His will for our lives shows me what a loving God he actually is. The very thing He commanded us to do is ALSO the only thing that fulfills US.