It’s Not Ours

Consider the logic: Human nature is loaded with desires on multiple levels. Even in the fabric of petty individual desires there are threads of something much bigger, of a discernible human imperative. The instinct for self-preservation is just the face of a greater ambition to propagate the species. The mass of fiction in which we become a space-faring race reflects that. We are driven to spread our seed as far and wide as possible.

The mistake is assuming that all of this is a gift from God. It is not; it is a disciplinary gauntlet meant to make us see the futility of trusting our own capabilities. The essence of being human is not what we actually are. The ultimate truth is that we are eternal beings who have no need for propagation and survival.

To be human is to live a lie. Not in the sense that we willfully deceive from within, but that we have embraced a external deception that ends in futility. Everything about being human has a distinct shelf-life. It will all expire, and the whole thing will be revealed as a small bubble, a brief passage, in the wider existence of Creation.

We weren’t designed for this. It was not our original condition. We were made for Eden, but we were led astray by forces we hardly comprehend. Revelation indicates we were a test of some moral truth that is far outside our reach. It’s not that we will cease to exist when the test run is finished; only our mortal passage will be tossed aside. No, our existence as eternal creatures is merely a reflection of who God is, and He says He intends to keep us around after all of this is over.

If you can grasp it: We will be commissioned to judge, to replace those incomprehensible higher beings who argued with God about the His plans and works. We are in training for this mission. The human situation is where we gain the moral fiber necessary to judge righteously.

The scary part is that not everyone around us here will be there. While it is impossible to explain in clinical terms, the underlying logic is available to us. Some people are simply part of the landscape, part of the broad deception that is our human existence. As a metaphor, we could say they are simply part of nature. They are part of the mortal animal and plant life around us, the Garden growing aimlessly without guidance. They are mere humans; there is nothing else to them. Our eternal souls were stuffed into these human forms for a time, but there are way more of the humans than are needed to house the eternal souls.

Even saying it that way doesn’t capture the truth. It’s just a parable. The clear statement of revelation is that, unless you are among the Elect, you cannot respond to God’s call. He alone can awaken an eternal spirit in humans. In essence, it has to be there before He calls, asleep and waiting for His touch. That’s what it means when Scripture says something about “elect before the foundation of the world”.

Not everyone is Elect. You cannot receive divine revelation without the Presence of the Holy Spirit. You must first be born from above. It’s not random, nor is it our choice; the biblical Doctrine of Election makes that clear. To human eyes the distinction is invisible. It makes no sense; it violates a human sense of morality. But human morality is not from Heaven. It does not reflect reality; it only seems to. The Holy Spirit infuses us with divine moral truth. We need to stop fighting that process by insisting that human moral reasoning be included.

It’s not a question of the Elect being “better” than the mortals, but that we simply are Elect. Our lives are no less tragic, and our fleshly nature no less hostile to the Holy Spirit. But the ultimate meaning of this passage for us is quite different than it is for the non-elect. What they have here is all they have; their existence is futility in itself.

The whole point of being more spiritual and less worldly is that we connect with that otherworldly realm to which we belong. It’s not a question of merit, but of simply being what we are designed to be. We don’t belong here; they do. We are supposed to manifest the difference by walking in our eternal privileges. That means being at war with this life, at war with our fleshly natures. It means alienation from everyone who isn’t Elect, and from their concerns and ambitions, their desires and instincts.

We don’t manifest it for the sake of those who are not eternal, only for those who are. It’s our call to our eternal brothers and sisters, who are designed and empowered sooner or later to recognize they belong. More importantly, our mission to manifest our eternal nature is to prove that God is right against the dispute of those other beings in His divine courts.

Don’t get wrapped up in this world. It’s not ours; it’s not our concern.