Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand the meaning of the relationship between uncertainty and security.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Uncertainty and Security
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace; In the world ye shall have tribulation: But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John, Chapter 16, Verse 33.
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we examine the state of uncertainty and security and the relationship between them. We are material and experiential beings with a spiritual potential. And this state creates quite a bit of difficulty for us in this life, for being material and potential spiritual being, we are subject to the confining laws of the material world and the liberating laws of the spiritual world. We are a part of nature, confined within like all other material life, and yet we are able to transcend nature by virtue of the fact that we can experience the liberating touch of spiritual values and meanings. We are finite creatures and yet we are dwelt by a spark of God. Such a dual situation not only provides the potential for evil but also creates many social and moral situations, with much uncertainty and lots of anxiety at times. Because of our spiritual and moral natures, we are constantly forced to choose between the way of the "beast" and the way of God. There is a way that seems right to the natural man, but that way leads to spiritual death.
"The courage required to effect the conquest of nature and to transcend one's self is a courage that might succumb to the temptations of self-pride. The mortal who can transcend self might yield to the temptation to deify his own self-consciousness. The mortal dilemma consists in the double fact that man is in bondage to nature while at the same time he possesses a unique liberty--freedom of spiritual choice and action. On material levels man finds himself subservient to nature, while on spiritual levels he is triumphant over nature and over all things temporal and finite. Such a paradox is inseparable from temptation, potential evil, decisional errors, and when self becomes proud and arrogant, sin may evolve."
Uncertainty in this life is a fact and a truth for we never know what is going to happen from moment to moment; we never know what is coming next. And as our experience has taught us, a lot of things that comes next are not very pleasant from the material point of view. These unpleasant episodes create quite a bit of emotional anguish. There are also some pleasant episodes that come next also, but these are fleeting and are gone before we can really appreciate them. As we look back we wonder why they were so fleeting and why we could not more fully appreciate them. But why should we have this uncertainty in life? Why can’’t we know what is coming next? As always, there is a reason why life is the way it is. If we are to have experience, we can’’t know what is coming next. To know what is coming next takes away the essence of the experience, and soon fill us with boredom. We lose that stimulus of curiosity which is so essential to making progress in this life. If we knew what was coming next, we would have a "why bother" attitude, not to mention the development of those essential spiritual attitudes of faith and trust And if we made no progress or developed faith and trust in this life, that would certainly equal failure, eternal failure.
But we know that as experiencing mortals, we must have certain drives and certain stimuli to propel us forward. "Love of adventure, curiosity, and dread of monotony--these traits inherent in evolving human nature--were not put there just to aggravate and annoy us during our short sojourn on earth, but rather to suggest to us that death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery." It is impossible to have adventure, anticipation, and discovery with certainty. Only uncertainty makes these qualities possible.
Uncertainty comes in response to the needs of our souls, which must be educated, trained, and ultimately possessed of the desire eagerly to look forward to the unfolding arena of living eternal reality. The eternal and infinite God is in the process of revealing Himself in time and space. This revelation--subject to time and space--emerges without foreknowledge, eventuating in uncertainty. Without the stimuli of uncertainty, the soul would languish, flounder, and expire. Uncertainty either brings forth the quality of trust or the quality of fear. Trust is essential for the soul to develop, as it will always be built upon the foundation of the Father’’s goodness and his love for us. This trust yields tranquility of spirit as the soul explores the never-ending meanings and values concealed in the unexpected events it encounters. "Uncertainty with security is the essence of the spiritual journey, the journey to becoming perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect. Thus we have uncertainty in time and in mind, uncertainty as to the events of the unfolding spiritual journey; security in spirit and in eternity, security in our unqualified trust the divine compassion and infinite love of the heavenly Father." We have uncertainty as inexperienced children of the Father, but "security as perfecting sons and daughters as we climb the ladder of perfection in the all powerful, all wise, and all-loving Father’’s universe."
This necessary uncertainty is best managed spiritually by patience, faith, trust and hope; and the ever-accumulating tension from being constantly exposed to uncertainty can best be antidoted by prayer and worship, and by the attempt to grasp the divine values and meanings evolving out of the unexpected experience. Emotionally, we should antidote the accumulating anxiety by humor. If we develop our sense of humor and learn not to take ourselves so seriously, we will avoid a lot of unnecessary stress and strain. "Humor is like an automatic safety values; it prevents the building up of excessive pressures due to the monotony of sustained and serious self contemplation in association with the intense struggle for developmental progress and noble achievement. Humor also functions to lessen the shock of the unexpected impact of fact or of truth, rigid unyielding fact and flexible ever-living truth." Since we are "never sure as to which will next be encountered, through humor swiftly grasps--sees the point and achieves insight--the unexpected nature of the situation be it fact or be it truth."
And as we continue to struggle in an environment of uncertainty, the transformation takes place and we are transformed from fearful creatures to fearless creatures who are motivated to face uncertainty with unbounded enthusiasm, having gained the insight of spiritual victory. And that is "the victory which overcomes the world, even your faith." Indeed, as Jesus says, "In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." By believing in Jesus, we can follow him and do the same thing.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the relationship between uncertainty and
security. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Uncertainty and Security
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