Crucifying the Will

We've talked about how the flesh and our genetically embedded instincts exert an influence over our thoughts and actions. We've talked about the need to break and crucify the flesh and bring into perfect obedience of our rational thought. But once we have control over our bodies we must still go further if we are to be of service to Our Lord.

Why further? Because depending on the condition of our hearts, or what some may call the sub-conscious, our views of the world may be out of alignment with the way things really are. We all have a limited perspective on things. We see one side of the situation. Our views are influenced by what we read, what we are taught, and where we grew up. Our intelligence and understanding is also limited.

To subject our bodies to our Spirit (or will) and then to let our imperfect Spirit run amok is a precursor to disaster. We would just be empowering ourselves to be super disciplined to do what we wanted to do. We could use this control to be quite the tyrant, we could use it to manipulate people, to defraud people, or to destroy people. Even unintentionally, we could cause great harm to ourselves and others. There is no way we can foresee every possible reaction and counter reaction that our actions cause to occur and reverberate throughout history.

God tells us that the wages of sin is death. He made it easy on the ancient Israelites by imposing the death penalty for each of the ten commandments. He let them see immediately the veracity of his statement.

So now He removed the penalty for violations, with the coming of Christ. The wages of sin is still death, we just no longer see it so swiftly. Idolatry still may cause death. Just via spin off religions, anti-God ideologies such as communism, and the horrendous wars that result from the divergence of opinions and conflicts over resources. Adultery may still result in death through jealousies, hatreds, betrayals, and murder. Sin still causes death and always has.

But simple minded us, not seeing the immediate consequences, may rationalize that there are no consequences. Thus comes the problem of subjecting Body to spirit and spirit to self. We are not God. There comes a need to subject spirit, our wills, to another.

Why God? We could surely subject our wills to any number of higher powers. I could rein in the body and subject it to my government. But can we not see how imperfect they are as well? Can we not see how they would use a more perfect you to initiate wars over the price of crude, or for any number of false pretexts? We could subject it to another group, but the same corruptions and misconceptions may also be present there. We can subject ourselves to any number of religions, but to find which one is the true God and God of wisdom, Truth and Justice is the problem.

So look at them. Take the Hindu for instance. They value non-attachment, above all things. Freedom from fears and lusts, notably harmful attachments, but also freedom from love and family. They even value abandoning wife and kids because it creates an unnecessary attachment that they feel will cause them to be stuck on earth after death.

We can see the evil that can result from this. We can see the misery, and hardship, and death that could result from abandoning a young wife and defenseless child to the whims of the world. There must be something higher.

So we get to absolutes. Good and Bad, Virtues. We find that there is a definite Good in the world. Loyalty, Courage, Faith, Hope, and Love, and we find that human nature goes in contrary directions.

There is no God that is the Father of Lights, except the Christian God. Followers of Judaism believe God only cares about their particular nation. That it is fine to defraud, con, or enslave other nations. We can see the folly of this, and how it leads to death, when the conned, defrauded, or enslaved take a similar view and retaliate in kind with violence.

Christianity values Love and sacrifice above all else. It's probably the most difficult power to subject our will to because it demands a complete renunciation of self. It demands going contrary to our very nature, to love even unto death. And Jesus Christ showed us by example.

But as a force for Good, Light, and Life, there is no other God that can compare. All other ways lead to death, at one speed or another. This is why Christ said 'I am THE way, THE Truth, and The Life'. There is no other.

We have his will written before us. He tells if we love Him, to keep His commandments. If we can see, rationally, the Truth of His words, and we can, with a little reflection and Grace, see His goodness. There is no higher power to subject our will to. We must crucify the flesh to bring it under the dominion of the Spirit, then crucify our spirit and offer it up to the will of God as a living and pleasing sacrifice to the father. This is the highest form of renunciation.