Human Ideations, Human Idolatry

Imagine two cliff climbing teams scaling the tallest and most extreme cliff face ever discovered, twenty times bigger than anything else, with its root in a deep cave. One team has each member follow their own logically planned route, though without any safety equipment, focused solely on reaching the summit at any cost. The other takes a more flexible approach, using the latest safety tools, planning the route together, adjusting to weather changes, preparing for unforeseen obstacles, and providing requirements for the team which can assist each individual best.

Which team is more likely to reach the peak unscathed? The first team represents human goals outside God: the relentless pursuit of singular objectives based on human values of base pleasure and pain, often leading to suicidal extremes. The second team embodies the flexibility inherent in aiming for God, the narrow and straightening path that adapts to circumstances, prioritises harmony, and ensures true success.

God offers this alternative and improved trajectory. Unlike human goals, which tend toward rigidity, divine goals are inherently flexible. They adapt to changing circumstances while remaining rooted in eternal principles. Aiming for God involves pursuing not just one aspect of life but the whole, with balanced approaches that consider spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. Divine goals are not bound by time or generation and offer an eternal perspective providing the greater context and meaning to our endeavours.

Scriptures are filled with stories of individuals who faced extremes but found balance and success through divine guidance; journeys from slave to freer of slaves and transformations from wretch to righteous. Throughout history, even very flawed leaders yet guided by divine principles have shown remarkable results and adaptability, as focused as they were on God rather than self. Religious goals used for personal ends, however, can just as easily lead to extremism. However, true divine guidance is recognisable through balance and harmony, not cynically self-empowering promotion of frantic devotions to organisations, deceitful hubris in unknowable unknowables, or similar idolatry.

Divine focus in goals flow smoothly like a river, adapting to the landscape while maintaining course and general direction. This flexibility ensures that even in changing circumstances, the pursuit remains on track. Personal self-empowering goals get caught up on snags of expectations. When we are able to give up aspects of our ends to God, it is like saying, “Here I am Lord, send me!”

Aiming for God is nothing like trying to achieve one thing at the expense of all else. It’s holistic and full growth in a balanced approach that allows for all aspects of life, family, and community to play into it. The key here is that you do not know everything, and so this is your admission: willingness to submit your will. This prevents extremes (found even amidst good human goals) by making it less likely that any single aspect of goodness done overshadows others, and, for the rest of this blog series, I will explain why and how

Human goals are myopic, focused on immediate gains and short-term successes. Divine goals, however, offer greater perspective without us and within us on the levels we cannot access. These levels transcend the personal, communal, national, and even generational, providing deeper lasting meaning unachievable in any other way. There is no greater intelligence than God. This spiritual view ensures that our endeavours remain relevant and impactful over time, as aligned with the greatest intellect. This is also an admission that we ourselves cannot even determine the best and most fulfilling goals for ourselves. We may discover the path to goals that are not only most achievable but also most enduring, and it will not be done in worship to ourselves and our own ends.

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