 To find joy to fill that empty place is to Worship Him and yield to Him our
heart of hearts to be filled with His love and His Spirit so that we may
experience the wildest ride of our lives. Only by inviting His Spirit into
ourselves will we be able to find true peace. Is there any room in the
bio-science of brain function to fit this in?
I believe we have misplaced our dependence on God's provision for His
Spirit. We may have forgotten that the presence of His Spirit brings power
to operate in a way that only the Spirit can operate. That operation
includes transcending the typical physical state of our existence. Paul
seemed to understand that when he talked about life in the Spirit as opposed
to life controlled by the sin nature each of us has. He implies something
miraculous must occur to break that cycle of moving from the sin nature to
the life in the Spirit. Just as we cannot save ourselves from the "law" or
works within ourselves, we cannot grow (be sanctified) without the presence
of the Holy Spirit in our lives. To the Galatians Paul said, "So I say, live
by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit
what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other,
so that you do not do what you want." (5:16-17)
So to the point, perhaps part of that power from the Holy Spirit is to
supply the brain with the right connections so that through our yielding to
the Spirit it allows Him to continue on with the work of Jesus through the
person who has given his life over to the work of Christ and His gift of the
Holy Spirit.
I wonder if when God created Adam and then Eve, since He pronounced that
creation as "Very Good" there was a relational component between the two of
them and with God that was destroyed when sin entered the world. Of course
that is true since even Paul in his Romans letter stated that even the
"cosmos" was affected. To escape the effect of falling under the same curse
that sin caused, God had to arrange for Jesus to be conceived rather than
leave it up to Joseph. That destructive cycle of sin had to be broken, and
of course it had to come from outside the "created" circle with direct
intervention from the Creator. Hence, Jesus was both God and Man, and
through His sacrifice was able to overcome even death and be resurrected to
become that "new creature" with a relationship with God that He originally
intended.
Now that does lend itself to the proposition that the "heart of emotion" in
man co-joins in some way to the brain that links us to the Spirit in such a
way as is possible only with our free choice of submission to Him. It is not
a far leap to believe that the brain undergoes some sort of change with the
touch of the Spirit of God and opens up channels of communication and
relationship that had been previously impossible in the "sinful state" of
being fallen. I wonder if the state of the human mind is not improved with
the touch of the Spirit when a person willingly chooses to yield to the work
that Jesus did on the cross and decides to invite Him into their life. At
some point Jesus allows the Spirit of God to enter into that person and
release power in a way that had never been experienced before. Perhaps a
different way of thinking, a "child-like" faith, and a new life-style that
is seen through the eyes of Jesus rather than the "world-view" thing.
Now, in our bodies we may not be able to see things as clearly because of
our logic that is clouded by the sin nature or world-view simply cannot
understand the ways of God. I think Job's arguments and human logic for
cause and effect were quelled by God's answer to him in a series of "Where
were you when I..." statements. As we begin that journey toward the Kingdom
of Heaven by accepting Jesus and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and
the gifts He brings, perhaps our brain begins a metamorphosis of changing
from a sin-stained brain to a "Life in the Spirit" brain. It gives us hope
that our new bodies are being prepared even as we journey through this
barren land.
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Now please do not misunderstand: I am not really wanting to identify
directly with Calvinism regarding this proposition, especially the belief
that mankind is unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they are
unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures. I do believe
that sin has resulted in a different relationship than what was experienced
between God, Adam and Eve. Remember in the Garden they had direct communion
with God "in the cool of the day." That direct access to God was broken when
Eve, then Adam chose to listen to the serpent rather than obey God. When God
confronted them He initiated a "curse" that caused not only spiritual
changes, but physiological changes as well. Even the ground began to produce
thorns and the human mind became dark with anguish, despair, unforgiving and
destructive even to the point of murder.
I think choice and free will remained relatively unchanged in regard to the
human being's ability to make rational choices based on evidences of good
and evil. To take that away from his crowning creation and initiate a
"predestined" elect would have negated the necessity for the sacrifice of
blood. I believe His predestined plan was redemption, atonement,
justification, sanctification and, ultimately glorification. Then it remains
the individual's free will choice to yield or not to the God of Israel. We
see that choice in the life of Abraham and Job who likely lived at the same
time. They believed God; made logical, cognitive and emotional choices in
the face of many disbelievers. Before them even, we see Abel making the
right choice to follow the will of God with the sacrifice. Indeed, we need
only to look to the eleventh chapter of Hebrews to see a list of people who
had not lost their ability of free will to make appropriate choices.
So if a person lives under his sin-nature as opposed to life in the Spirit,
does his body as ruled by his brain experience joy and "Christ-like"
characteristics as does a person yielded to Christ? I believe the answer to
that is yes. It may be an empirical difference that can only be found under
post-mortem studies, but the potential is there in the creation aspect for
men and women to be "good" people and experience joy as they perceive joy,
and never see a need to come to Christ. The difference is in the salvation.
Without Christ there is no salvation, no matter how good you are! You know,
"There is only one name under heaven whereby men might be saved..." Did Cain
experience joy as he chose his offering and prepared it for a sacrifice to
God? As he thought of how he was going to please God were there endorphins
released that caused pleasure to well up within his heart? Perhaps his
motive was to compete with his brother Abel and gain a better position in
God's sight; but this too might have caused the same pleasure as he
contemplated and completed the act.
I guess I might believe that the same sensations exist in both the saved and
unsaved; but with varying degrees. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult
for a person who believes he is a good person finds it so difficult to come
to Christ; after all, from his perception, what is the need? To be
redundant, of course, is to remind the readers that the "need" is for
redemption.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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