Restored Integrity of the Person

Introduction

I had only a couple of laps left to complete my track work out when my right knee buckled, thus causing me to cease running for a short moment while retesting the stability of my knee, only to succumb to the reality that I needed to finish my workout by walking, at least on this day.

Truth be told, my ego if not my pride actually hurt more than my right knee, in that a few days prior to this past Friday’s track workout, I was able to successfully complete the entire workout, pain-free without any physical suffering.

Life lesson: Recovery from injury and to return to running is never easy!

The same can be said about our personal race of Life!

In today’s blog post, my intent is to briefly, discuss various ways that severe distress of life, potentially threatens the integrity of our personhood while also, providing some real answers to the question: just how are we to respond when suffering, hardships, and unwanted events, impeds our lives?

The Threat of Disintegration

At best, we are challenged and we all strive toward living our lives as balanced as possible in this very complexed and unpredictable life. This matter of having balance in our lives, entails each aspect of our existence as individuals, our physical; mental, emotional, financially, spiritual, and relational.

In all honesty, as of this writing, how are you fairing in your own quest?

There are perhaps more questions than answers to this matter of balance and the integrity of our soul-life day in and day out. Just where did we all inherit this notion?

Is it at all possible for us to strive toward obtaining a realistic balanced life on our own efforts? Where and who is there that we can model an example to live by? Is there a biblical mandate or standard that we may use toward obtaining God’s perspective on this matter?

Before we look into the Bible for the answers to our inquiry, let me first identify what I contend is our greatest responsibility as human-beings other than our personal relationship with the Master.

It is a two-part reality, the first is the importance of moment by moment tending to the “intactness of our individualized personhood!” I personally call this [Soul-care, each of our responsibilities for the entirety of one’s life]. If I fail at having a healthy and realistic perspective of who I am and my overall well-being, others who are outside of me are going to become negatively impacted until I can tend to myself.

Next is the ability to understand the multiple variables that threaten our personal intactness and our ability to restore ourselves when “Life Happens.” [This is called learning to negotiate while affirming the limitations as they present themselves to one’s living.] IT is well within this battle that one’s identity and horizontal relational connections will be tested severely.

“Intactness” Remaining sound, united [whole, complete] or uninjured or complete.

In his book The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine, Eric Cassell posits that “suffering occurs when impending destruction of the person is perceived; it continues until the threat of disintegration has passed or until the integrity of the person can be restored in some other manner… Suffering can be defined as the state of severe distress associated with events that threaten the “intactness of person.”

It is within this presented framework of thought, that our analysis of what is the true conversation about how do we live a balanced life when at any given time, life’s uncontrollable catastrophic situations overwhelm if not destroy our worldview of life, faith, and selfhood.

Sickness, chronic illness and the other horrors that we really never sign up for, leaves no part of our lives untouched. These losses are cumulative in that a person may lose their livelihood, relationships, their physical attractiveness, cognitive abilities, freedom, some at times, even question their faith, while others privacy is compromised.

True Balance is only Possible by Being Yoked to Christ

I was somewhat surprised that our Holy Scriptures failed to give clear and or concise biblical references to the individual follower of Christ “to live a balanced” life as we often-times perceive as our own individualized responsibility that is mistaught from our secular culture and our family upbringing.

The Bible did contain references to “balance” like the Hebrew word mo’zen which refers to a pair of scales or balance. [Proverbs 11:1: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.“]

God expects scales and balances to be used with honesty, fairness, and equity so too is His way of our living a spiritual life.

In perhaps one of the most interesting discoveries is the Greek term Zugos which comes from the root word zeugnumi, which means “to join, especially by a yoke.”

Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines zugos as “a yoke,” serving to couple two things together, as used 1. metaphorically,…of submission to authority [take My yoke upon you”];…of bondage [“yoke of bondage”]; …of bond service to masters [“under the yoke”]; 2. to denote “a balance.”

In the Proverbs 16:11 passage that was quoted under the rock formation photo above perhaps is the best clearer idea of the spiritual intent of living and leading a balanced life. “A just weight and balance are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are His work.”

This proverb tells us that all things are God’s and that He is and must always be the standard by which we measure everything. He and His character are our truthful balance regardless of all that we must endure in our living!

The biblical response to this matter of balance within our lives is in direct proportion to our willingness to subject our pride, will and souls to The Master by being “Yoked” to Him.

https://www.christianarmor.net/emotional-wholeness/79-yoked-to-christ

The reality of being yoked to Christ is the first line of defense as each of us must purpose to tending to our Soul-care moment by moment in our living. This is forever made possible only due to the vicarious death that The Master subjected Himself to on our behalf.

Only then can any of us have a realistic example to compare and or measure when trials, temptations, testings, and hardships come our way. Just knowing all that The Master did to recover, redeem and rescue us, only grants each of us the ability to understand the multiple variables that threaten our own personal intactness and our ability to restore ourselves when “Life” does and when “Life” does Happen.”

It is well documented in the Ancient Text, that The Master was “wounded” by the thorns, the nails, and the spear of the soldier, all of which cause His physical death, for He was crushed for our stead.

The chastisement of our peace was upon Him which is now given to us. The enmity between fallen sinful mankind and God is eternally abolished in His flesh, in that He now is the New Adam who reconciles us all unto God on the Cross while killing off all that formally separated us forever. Amen.

Peace and healing and a multitude of spiritual and practical blessings are ours now due to what He endured in His suffering. He suffered, such will be the fate of those who are Yoked with Him in this life.

Isaiah 53:5 [Paraphased]

For the faithful followers, there is no escaping the reality of The Cross

Blogger Danielle Cummings* writes that while human nature, privilege, and the American Dream may justify profound distaste for suffering, Calvary beckons us differently.

Reconciliation with God implies further intolerance of this world and its atrocities and injustices, not shielding from their effects. Suffering binds us with God, as Jürgen Moltmann writes, “…when we feel the pain we participate in his pain, and when we grieve we share his grief… People who believe in the God who suffers with us, recognize their suffering in God, and God in their suffering.”

Though we are inclined, when privilege allows, to follow the crucified Christ without identification with suffering, there comes a point when we are confronted by utter brokenness.

And at this crossroads, though the pain is strong, lies an opportunity for greater solidarity with Jesus and deeper enjoyment of His love. As our suffering joins with Him, we find there is indeed nowhere we can go away from His love.

Our experience of suffering pushes us to the margins of our theology, and we find that His story does not leave us alone. [* supportive wisdom and truth obtained in the blog post: The Suffering God: How Jesus Meets Us in Pain,] https://cct.biola.edu/suffering-god-jesus-meets-us-pain/

Closing thoughts:

If you are seeking balance in your life, the only means in which this task is made possible is to be forever yoked to Christ as the New Adam who now grants peace, abundant life and a multitude of blessings that will aid followers when they too suffer in this life.

This is forever made available to humanity due to His death, burial, and resurrection on the Cross. Regardless of what we who are followers much endure in our living, being yoked to Christ means being in a relationship that heals every aspect of our often-times fragmented lives.

Much thanks for the following information sites.

References used to motivate and educate the ideas and content of this blog post were, Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain’s Handbook, Edited by Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts. Major content for the blog was gleaned Chapter 24, Chronic Illness, by Rabbi Zahara Davidowitz-Farkas.

And in addition: Subject concerning striving for balance was used by assessing Bible Tools website: https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/RA/k/923/Striving-for-Balance.htm

Theology of the Cross was supported by the blog post of Danielle Cummings, The Suffering God: How Jesus Meets Us in Pain.