There’s nothing worse than feeling disappointed with God because we naturally, even if unconsciously, put all our hopes in God and the things that God represents to us. But is it realistic to put all our hopes in God? We can’t begin to talk about disappointment with God without considering who God is and how He or She interfaces with us. It’s complicated.
Being disappointed with God usually starts with our frustration at the invisible nature of God and the hidden expectation (I say hidden because people don’t usually have the audacity to admit it out loud) that we want supernatural signs. A few lightning bolts would go a long way! This desire is at odds, however, with God’s providence of restoration or re-creation. How so?
Belief in an unseen world creates a dividing line in the world today. If you think about it, of all the 7 billion people on the planet who get up each morning, eat breakfast, send the kids off to school, go to work, engage in various activities; struggle, laugh, or cry, many go to bed each night never giving one thought to the idea that there is an unseen world to which they are connected. Maybe you know such people or maybe that describes you from time to time.
If you study history and observe the rise and fall of civilizations it’s easy to think that’s all there is to it. Does what we do here in the physical world have any reverberation in the spiritual world? Is there more than the here and now? The Bible hints that there is a bigger picture.
In Luke 15 we see that a sinner’s repentance sets of a celestial celebration and in Rev. 12 a baby’s birth upsets the whole universe. We’ll save that one for Christmas. But the point is God does not sit still. There is a dynamic relationship between the invisible and the visible worlds centered on man who is a connecting point between both worlds.
Straddling two worlds
Just as we influence our physical environment by the way we live, so we also affect our spiritual environment through our heart, motivation and thinking. It’s impossible to think that we live in two worlds and expect that we don’t impact both realities equally. We want supernatural forces to reveal themselves to us but don’t acknowledge how we impact the spiritual world around us.
History progresses, not just because of God but due to humankind’s efforts as well.
We are too quick to put all our expectations on God and that is where we come up short and find ourselves disappointed in God.
From the Christian perspective all of history takes place as least symbolically somewhere between Genesis with the creation story and Revelation foreshadowing the coming Kingdom. Genesis starts with so much hope and expectation. God the creator makes a universe and a world full of beauty fit for Kings and Queens. Adam and Eve did not create the Universe; they were the inheritors of this world. God was benevolent, investing everything in creation. Ironically, it was God, not humanity, who first felt disappointment when the first man and woman betrayed God’s dream.
After the fall a different world unfurled and now God was not just concerned with Creation but with Re-Creation. He had to recover what was lost, which is much more complicated and necessarily involves all of us. The Divine Principle spells it out – the new work of Re-Creation involves human beings who originally spoiled everything in the first place.
The great reversal
God gives ordinary men and women such as us the dignity of participating in the great reversal which will ultimately reshape the universe so that it resembles its original design. We have such incredible value.
Whereas creation progressed through six days or stages outlined in the Bible and described through the science of evolution and evidenced through a series of geologic time periods, the work of Re-Creation happens in reverse starting with man and woman and ending in the restoration of all things.
The original creation began with the Big Bang and evolution of all things but re-creation has to start with the messiah and work backwards and that is why the Divine Principle teaches the concept of True Parents because it takes a man and a woman, in place of Adam and Eve to restore the world back to God.
The work of re-creation is much harder than the original work of creation because it relies on flawed human beings to carry it out. It’s not something that God can do alone, magically, all by himself but is something that involves us. Restoring the world is not a top down solution but must happen from the bottom up as we reclaim our original nature. I’m sure at times God must just want to fix everything but it can’t happen like that, so if we are looking skyward for signs and wonders we are looking in the wrong place.
Instead we need to look to ourselves. We search for God “out there” but the hard evidence for God was always meant to be in us. Our disappointment with God may simply be a disappointment with ourselves or others. How many people have stopped believing in God because they saw corruption in the church? That’s not fair to God?
Spiritual evolution
Our understanding of God has evolved. Think about it. If you went back to 1,000 BC or so you would meet a people, who if asked about God would not even be able to pronounce his name for fear of being zapped! The God of the Israelites was a powerful and sometimes angry God who ran the world.
With the coming of Christ we came to know God more intimately. Jesus introduced us to God the Father. Those who were not caught up in power and politics felt God’s love in him and through him. The victory of the cross brought us one step closer still because it released the Holy Spirit to us. It’s as though we became a new species who could live with God’s spirit in us. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor or what your ethnicity is (Korean, Japanese, American, or European.) God is most certainly an equal opportunity God.
We are meant to incarnate God in the world, that means what happens to us happens to God. That is a sobering thought.
We’re tight with God
The point about what happens to us, happens to God is exemplified in 1 Corinthians 6. If God’s spirit lives in us then whatever we experience God experiences. Suddenly, lifestyle matters a great deal. We cannot live random lives. Our integrity matters.
“You were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. Even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”[d] 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
Whatever you do with your body you necessarily involve God because His spirit is within you so your actions matter. Don’t give God bad experiences!
The importance of “I”
God relies on us to recreate this world. There is an interesting section in the Divine Principle called the History of the Providence of Restoration and I.
In that section it talks about the importance of “I”. We each have to play our part. Moreover, we cannot do it alone, we need the Messiah. The only way to be victorious is to clearly understand the heart of God. You can read more about it on page 187 of the Divine Principle. This is why our next seminar on Saturday, January 10th will explore the three hearts of God.
Recreation starts with being able to experience God in everyday life. There is a beautiful sermon by Rev. Moon on this topic, “How to Gain Spiritual Help.” The advice he gives seems simple on the surface but when practiced daily it is life-changing.
When you see another person, how much do you care for him or her? How do you feel towards that person? You must really love the people you meet, because they are the temples of God. When you touch another person, feel that through your touch, both of you will be blessed.
Each of us has two aspects, mind and body. Our true mind wants to touch our body with heart and give love to it. We should think of our mind as God’s mind, because God loves it and that is where He dwells. Look at each man or woman as a holy person. Regard each person’s body as sacred and their mind as hallowed.
If you live like this, soon you will hear inside of yourself a small voice, the sound of your mind. Wherever you walk, no evil or darkness can remain. Only good spirits can touch you if you create such an atmosphere. If you place yourself in such a position, then spirit world will pour down upon you its abundant blessing and power.
You must attract this power from the spirit world and then weld yourself to it. Make it one with your body, so that even your arms and legs feel special. When you are in bed, even if it is a sleeping bag, your surroundings will become like a king’s palace. Your body will be resting in a king’s bed.
You must name yourself as the dwelling place of God. When you go to bed, lie down with a beautiful mind. Remove all ugliness from it. In the morning when you wake, come before the deep bosom of God, and then, when you go out to your school or work, you will embark from the throne of God.
The spirit world is always around you, listening and attentive. Always be aware that it is within your reach. If you keep thinking this way, then you will be able to control your circumstances. Make yourself a tuning fork, resonating with and vibrating along God’s frequency. Resonate with God’s unselfishness.
If you partake of this resonance with God, then when you see someone, you will automatically be able to sense what type of person he is. Sometimes you will be able to see your own spirit man with your own eyes. Train yourself and discipline yourself to develop this capacity. If you live this way, you will be always able to act in the right way when an emergency arises.
Human being’s position is to control the spirit world, not the other way round. With prayer coming from deep within your mind, you can move a man from outside to inside. Become a magnet, a mover of people’s spirits. Become a spiritual magnet, drawing people with love. Maintain this condition or attitude, and then your prayer will become a reality.
So the key word for this kind of life is respect.
Respect all things as holy things.
Respect all men as holy men.
Respect yourself as a holy person.
Respect your mind as holy.
Respect your body as holy.
Pay deep respect to all people, no matter what kind of person they may be. As a child, be respectful towards an elderly man. Think over your words three times before uttering them and always have a humble attitude.
Always share with others the best thing you have. Empty your pocketbook to give. If you have done good, then your mind will rest in peace. Unpack the dirty elements inside yourself and cleanse them. Open up the baggage of your mind and look what you find there. Don’t harbor selfish feelings. Repent publicly for any selfish feelings you may have entertained. Practice the virtue of humility.
Act with the support of the spirit world. If they are behind you, you will never be lonely. You will always have energy and power. Even though you may be penniless, still have no fear. You can be adventurous and bold. On the road of success, the more you walk, the further you yearn to go.
Who knows how long he or she will live? Maybe tomorrow you will die, at a mere 25 or 30 years of age. Do you have some guarantee from God how long you will live? No one has such a guarantee.
A wise person thinks like this: “I have only a short time to live. Within this time I must prepare myself for eternity. The way I live in the next two years will be the model for my eternal life.” Then explode your sense of love. Love God, and love another person as God. For an entire day, 24 hours, pour out your entire energy for someone. If you love a person like this, even though you may die early, you will have made the highest accomplishment in all eternity. Then when God gives you more time to live, your response will be immense gratitude. Push yourself to live more fully. The person who expects death and then is given life dwells in the fullest gratitude.
Leave behind something that God can praise. Each moment is so precious there is no time for worry or frustration (or disappointment with God.) The person who recognizes that earthly life is short compared to eternity, and therefore condenses his accomplishments, is a wise man indeed. Think about what “label” you wear spiritually on your forehead. Ask yourself how many people, how many clans, how many tribes, how many nations you have loved.
Seek to become that master of love. Program your life like that, and you will never be a loser. Plan as if you only had two years to live, and then by the third year, when you are still alive, think of the joy of living! This is “resurrected” living. I still have so much to do: love my wife, love my children, love all mankind. I have to love the Unification Church. I must pay indemnity for all mankind. I need to liberate man from sin. I am determined to leave behind tremendous assets.
When you work, you must love that business, love the products you work with, and, of course, love the people. Always give honor to the other people. God created us, but we are also shaping ourselves and restoring our original value. Return a portion of what you earn to God as a tithe.
When you give to others, don’t think that you are giving to them out of your own pocket. Give out as though it were coming from a heavenly treasure. Then the person who is receiving through you is actually receiving from God. The spirit world can then help you, and God will remember everything and return it to you ten times over.
Make your company a dwelling of God. Don’t just feel like a worker or supervisor. Invest your heart in your work. Determine to make it a business that will serve all people. Then wherever your business goes, it becomes God’s “love extension.” Whatever you are responsible for, give it your heart and soul on a 24 hour basis. Feel like you are the parent and it is your baby.
Whatever you do, think that you are carrying it out in partnership with God. Feel that you are the second owner and pour all your love into it. The one who loves something the most is the ultimate owner. When you give love, you will attain infinite value.
If you live this way you will never be left disappointed because you will experience God in you and about you. You can elevate your life to incredible significance and value. It’s not about how intelligent you are or how much money you have but instead; it’s about living with an awareness of God being with you each and every moment of your day.
We cannot transplant faith into another. I wish I could. I can think of so many people I would want to give that gift to. However, faith is something we must discover for ourselves. It takes some effort but is infinitely worth it because a life of meaning and value is a satisfying life and the greatest inoculation against disappointment.
