We may not perceive that life in its revelation is formed from one and many. As God is one/trinity in the god-head of that one, so we too are made up of a compound that is life. There are two or more elements in a compound. Fusing elements that make up a compound determine its nature. We are compounds in the natural world that make of us the persons we are and become. Without enough iron in the body, the body is different than if the proper balance in life elements were available and that leads to suffering, perhaps death – unless righted. Without spiritual elements we are different persons than if those elements are present. If nature’s person discovers and absorbs the spiritual elements, according to Jesus, the result is likened to a new birth. The spiritual elements are so meaningful to the person that one might be cited as born again. There is new life, and where there is the generation of life there needs to be an understanding of birthing, and understanding how to combine the human compound with the spiritual to make one life.
The analogy of the spiritual process is found in the human family – father, mother and child. The father and mother are not together as the child, but the child is something of both the mother and father. Every person becomes his or her own compound of elements (factors) they choose that are added to inherited factors. God accepts inclusion in the mix, if he is permitted to form the person in the image acceptable to him. That forming will never be completely carried through in an earthly sojourn, but in genuine Christian faith it begins it progression (growth) to maturity (toward perfection, righteousness). This is explained in the narrative of the document we know as the Bible or Scripture. Awareness is vital.
The process requires special consideration in an imperfect society for both human and spiritual freedom. For survival and maintenance, mankind, quite imperfect, demands from the culture, leadership, intellect, energy, wisdom, and other factors, even including personality that provide continuity for the mass. That mass will drift without the special gifts and talents of some of the members of the mass. Both the mass and God choose these persons for their gifts and talents, their purposes and directions, sometimes separately from the approvals of either or both the physical or spiritual contexts these chosen-out persons represent. King David is a striking case in point. David appears to have cultivated his leadership of the people. He was highly successful as a warrior, with bloody hands greater than those of his predecessor, Saul. The kingdom was safe from predators as long as David was king. His son Solomon lived in peace on the reputation of his father. David was tempted and fell to sexual infidelity, both in the Bathsheba exploit and supporting a standard harem. He was at his worst in ordering Joab to subject Bathsheba’s husband to death to hide the event that made Bathsheba pregnant. He was a casual father to his children so leaving considerable dysfunction in them that included evil conduct even death among them. The jealousies of the children of the various mothers, and the mothers’ jealousies became a court disaster. In all this the story of David appears in two contexts, one of great success with the people in the context of nature. He was a hail fellow, well met, an artist in music and language, a faithful son to his parents, a servant of King Saul, a deep friend to Jonathan, a leader of the people, and involved in gaining good life for the subjects in the mass. All the while the other side of him was having its ups and downs. His spiritual life so deeply wounded by his personal private thought and action, invited judgment from God – in the death of the baby, in flight from the capital, in judgments even in his pride at the close of his reign, and the story is extensive.
Why was David so highly recognized in both the cultures of earth and heaven? He was truly penitent. He never lost faith. He was quick to face guilt when hit with evaluation of personal sin. Called for special service, he took self-privileges. We do not learn well from David’s life how to live as faulty persons in a faulty world if we miss his basic humility to repentance – to restoration. Penitence is integrity’s beginning. It also finds ways out of our failures. Faithfulness offers integrity. It can also hold and make us. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020