In much of society today I’ve noticed the underlying theme that has captured the lives of many individuals: secular humanism. The way that I’ve come to understand it, secular humanism is basically a person’s pursuit of oneself with self-seeking gratification and achievement at the center of one’s life. I am regularly guilty of this “me” mentality of putting myself ahead of others. Like Clare in C.S Lewis’s essay, I believe that my self-seeking priorities stem from the idea that I have a right to and pursue happiness. This is a wrong idea.
Coming from a Christian perspective with the context that we are created by God, we human beings are blessed and surrounded by the good things that God has given us. However, at the end of the day none of our achievements, qualities, or characters merit us the right to be satisfied nor fulfilled. We have no claim to the good things in our lives and we can only be content with what God has given us for He is the source of all things, without Him there would be none of it. When we view our lives and relationship with God through this lens, our only response should be of humility and surrender to the Lord, thus our supposed claim to the good things of our lives is also surrendered. We allow God sovereignty to the personal details of our lives as we choose to be led by Him rather than our passions, desires, and emotions.
Yet, the great thing is that God indeed loves us and wants us to be blessed and fulfilled , He desires to not only to be in relationship with His children but also to see their good natural growth within His will. As a result, many people are remain consistently blessed by Him such as those of us here at Calvin receiving an education with almost limitless opportunities for our futures. We are fed, cared for, and encouraged by a strong community of believers which is a blessing very few have in the world today. These blessings should not be taken for granted nor laid claim to, for we ultimately had no right to these blessings in the first place.
Josh, I really liked when you said that "When we view our lives and relationship with God through this lens, our only response should be of humility and surrender to the Lord, thus our supposed claim to the good things of our lives is also surrendered." It is through this lens that I am humbled and thankful for all that He has richly blessed me with. You touched on thankfulness in your last paragraph and I think that is so true. It truly comes from a heart that is not self-seeking. If you have time to read 1 Chronicles 29:10-14, I highly recommend it. David is blessing the Lord and it is so beautiful to catch a peak of David's heart.
ReplyDeleteWhat you said in the second paragraph really spoke to me.. "We have no claim to the good things in our lives and we can only be content with what God has given us for He is the source of all things, without Him there would be none of it". When I think about my life and the things I have I picture MY clothes or MY house or MY family etc. What I fail to remember a majority of the time is that none of those things are truly mine. They are all blessings from an amazing Lord. But, to whom much is given, much is required. It's a challenge in my life to continue to be a blessing to those less fortunate than I.
ReplyDeleteVery well-said. I liked the way you introducted secular humanism and admitted to often falling victim to the idea that we have the right to happy, as we all think we do at times. It is essays like "We Have No 'Right to Happiness'" that wake us up to the idea that we have no reason to feel this way because of our fallen nature. All good things come from God, and we are at the mercy of His grace.
ReplyDeleteI liked what you said about secular humanist world view in my experience many times even when secular humanist do good things the reasons behind them are often have a self preservational tone behind them
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