We have been writing articles for what is now being called A Christian Response to the Metacrisis for over a year. During that time, the Holy Spirit has exposed me to concepts I would never have imaged learning. He has used the sciences of psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy – and an ancient Christian religion, Eastern Orthodoxy – to explain several spiritual mysteries related to God’s relationship with mankind, and our relationships with each other.
This journey has been quite a challenge. I have had to trust the Holy Spirit in areas I previously thought unrelated, contrary, and even hostile to Christianity. In the process, I have learned that the sciences are once again discovering God, and the need for His ways in life. The wisdom of our Christian forefathers – thrown out with the bathwater during the Protestant Reformation – are making a comeback.
I want to make the point here that the Holy Spirit can be trusted to protect us from distraction and heresy. It takes a curious mind to search out the mysteries of God. God promises, “Seek and you will find (Jeremiah 29:13).” Transformation by the renewing of our minds reasonably requires opening the lid of our doctrinal boxes, stepping out, and looking around.
At this point I suspect more than a few of you are feeling some apprehension; we have been trained to be suspicious of anyone who might challenge our doctrinal paradigms. Believe me, I have been there; so, let me encourage you:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2).
I hope and pray you will search out, with the Holy Spirit and me, a few important matters – the matters of attention, image, agency, and identity. Here you will find a renewed wonder for God’s relational nature and a reconnection with the Divine in our relationships with one another. Here you will discover an exciting and literally Christ-centered solution to the Metacrisis.
Attention
We’ve written a couple of articles on the morality of attention (here and here), and the importance of attention in addressing the Meaning Crisis. We recommend reading them as time allows. For the sake of time, here are a couple of important excerpts. First, the meaning of attention:
APA Dictionary of Psychology (2024) – a state in which cognitive resources are focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others.
Britannica (n.d.) – the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli.
Merriam-Webster (n.d.) – the act or state of applying the mind to something.
Early every morning, I walk into my office and sit in a particular chair to pray and study. To do so, I must give attention to that chair over any other place I might sit in my office. In fact, I must give attention to my office over any other room in my house. Moreover, so as not to fall, and therefore never make it to my office, I must give attention to each step of the stairs leading down to the basement of my house.
Assuming I give attention to each step, to the room that is my office, and to the chair I intend to sit in, I will then need to give attention to my tumbler of tea, my journal and its pen, my Bible, and whatever devotion I have determined to study. As I read my Bible, I must give attention to the singular and collective meaning of the text.
In other words, giving attention to people and things is something we do every day and all the time. The challenge is giving attention to the right things – to not become distracted by the trivial or evil. It would do us all well to occasionally step back and consider what we are giving most of our attention to – what has crept in and what has dropped off our radar entirely.
Furthermore, how we attend to people and things has an incredible effect on our perception. For example, a certain collection of wood in the corner of a room might be perceived as a chair or fuel for a fire depending on our need for rest or heat. A mountain will be appreciated for its beauty by a painter, as a source of income by a logger or miner, and as a landmark by an explorer. Each one’s manner of attention brings forth a different identity (more on this later).
A self-conscious young man, trying desperately to be cool, may assume his date is laughing at him, when her laugh is simply an expression of her delight. Attending to her in the wrong way turns an otherwise delightful night into confusion, disappointment, and/or discouragement. The young man’s misguided attention creates an unreasonable impression of cruelty emanating from a loving and fun-loving woman.
Proposition #1: What or who we attend to, and how we attend, affects the reality and meaning of that object or person; and it in turn affects us.
Exercise #1: Sit in front of something you think is beautiful (e.g., a picture, a person, a setting). List five reasons it or they are beautiful to you.
Image
We have not previously addressed the matter of image, except to point out that the reality someone projects may be the image of an ideal they prefer people accept. As it turns out, image projection is a psychological mechanism we use to avoid rejection by our preferred peer groups. This means most humans carry around at least two images, the real and the projected. It should also be noted that human beings – including our worst enemies – have been created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), a third important image we carry.
For Christians, there is a fourth and rather important image we carry in our being – the image of the glory of the Lord:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2Corinthians 3:18).
Furthermore, we are commanded to let our light (i.e., the Lord) so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). This brings us into the familiar territory of transformation and our second proposition.
Proposition #2: Christians should not only avoid false projections of our image (i.e., hypocrisy), we should participate with the Holy Spirit’s work in the replacement of our image with that of Jesus Christ.
Exercise #2: List five images of Jesus Christ you hope others see in you.
Agency
The matter of agency is for me a new and exciting discovery. Here are a few definitions to get us started:
APA Dictionary of Psychology (2024) – the state of being active, usually in the service of a goal, or of having the power and capability to produce an effect or exert influence.
Britannica (n.d.) – the property or capacity of actors to make things happen.
Merriam-Webster (n.d.) – the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power; a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.
The Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – exercised their agency when they worked together to create everything. And every living thing that has been created – from bacteria to humans – has agency. Some would argue that inanimate objects also have agency (e.g., volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes), but that notion is outside our scope.
The matter of agency we want to share here involves the corporate nature of agency. Sports teams have agency. Corporations and governments have agency. Marriages and communities of faith have agency. Notice that the agent exercising its property or capacity to make things happen is more than the sum of its parts. Marriage is a great example.
Marriage has been created by God for procreation and dominion of the earth (Genesis 1:28), and to express the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). Separately, regardless of their individual agency, neither a man nor a woman is capable of procreation. Notice they are also incapable of dominion, separately. This is an incredibly important point!
God’s intention for the home is both procreation and dominion. It is probably important to point out that the dominion we speak of is the biblical kind: As representatives of our Good King, with grace flowing down the channels of authority He has established, and the representative authorities serving those submitted to their leadership. With this in mind, it does not take much consideration to realize that the home requires an agency of relationship – something greater than the sum of the parts. Moreover, strained or broken relationships inhibit communal agency.
Proposition #3: Communal agency is potentially more powerful than the sum of the agency provided by the involved individuals.
Exercise #3: Consider three relationships in which you currently participate (e.g., friend, spouse, fellowship). How is the whole greater than the sum of the parts?
Identity
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. Genesis 2:19
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8
From its beginning to its end, from the lowest creature to its Creator, identity carries weight. It seems we have flattened the identity of people and things into name tags. Of course, this is necessary and helpful; considering the full meaning of “mom” every time I think of her would expend a lot of mental energy. Oh, but what would I miss by never fully considering what “mom” means to me.
Giving attention to identity is important; and most important for the most important people and things in our lives. Psychologically, when we give identity to someone or something, the purpose of that someone or something comes to us. When I notice my wife is calling – by her caller identity on my phone – I know and desire to answer; “potential spam caller”, not so much.
Knowing my friend John Brown will be attending a meeting increases my expectation for the spiritual depth and value of the anticipated conversation. When my dad shows up for our weekly family zoom meeting, I instinctively realize the “patriarch who examplifies love for God, His truth, and all people” has entered the room.
Furthermore, it is important to know the identity of both evil and good. For example, knowing a bear from a dog will likely save a camper’s life. In the supernatural realm, we must learn to identify demons from angels; in community, wolves from sheep.
Now, extend this understanding – that identity reveals purpose – to relational agency. “Rob and Beth’s marriage” has a myriad of purposes, many shared with other marriages, and some different. Making a home for children, friends, neighbors, and strangers comes to mind. In our home, there is a power, one might say, that produces, protects, and projects an environment and atmosphere greater than the sum of its parts.
Proposition #4 – The effort required to give and consider the full identity of people and relationships in our closest spheres of influence pays enormous dividends, revealing purpose and drawing God’s power into the world around us.
Exercise #4: Give a name to each of the agencies previously considered (exercise #3). Why did God draw you together? How might someone on the outside looking in describe the relationship?
Renewed Wonder and Reconnection with the Divine
One of the more devastating conformities with the world is the flattening of concepts and truths into two-dimensional rationalism – particularly within the church. Beginning with the Enlightenment, secular humanists have argued and legislated God out of our social consciousness. Progressive educators diligently inculcate vulnerable young minds into their debased ideologies. The church has offered little resistance for quite some time.
However, before we blame those dastardly proponents of godlessness, we must examine ourselves. For example, legislation is powerless to remove prayer from schools filled with children taught to pray before every meal and test, and for their sick friends and teachers. Children purposefully taught the wonders and mysteries of God would naturally recognize the fallacy and deceit of secular humanism.
Indeed, turning our children’s education over to the world produced what we should expect: followers of that world. Our failure to disciple children and adults alike has allowed the ideologies of the world space for footholds and strongholds. The result – and our primary warning here – is the flattening of Christian language into well-meaning cliché. No longer do we wonder at the truths and mysteries of Scripture. We offer the two following examples.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20
For years now, some form of Matthew 18:20 comes to my mind when I am gathering with others for a prayer meeting. In fact, many times someone else quotes the passage – with others nodding their heads in agreement. And that’s it; that’s all we do – mental note, quote, and agreement; and almost always associated with prayer or Bible study.
I suspect you understand where we are going with this, but let me be clear: No longer do we pause and wonder at the truth and promise of God present in our midst. Such a thought should devastate us, every time it enters our minds. Moreover, it should move swiftly down into our hearts, for it is with the heart that man believes (Romans 10:10).
To again err on the side of clarity, we are not talking about a process or discipline, and certainly not something within our own power. We are simply arguing for relational attention and identity. When two or more Christians gather – not just for prayer or Bible study, but at home, work, and play – the force of the whole has the potential to be greater than the sum of the parts. Infinitely greater!
Example two:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. Mark 10:7-9
Every Christian wedding I have ever attended included this passage. In my humble opinion, it is not given the time and attention it deserves. Consider, just for a moment, the wonder of this passage. This IS the sacrament of marriage – the sacred moment when God steps in and DOES SOMETHING! For clarity once again: It is not a metaphor. God uses metaphors, but He does not operate in them. Every wedding ceremony should pause at the reading of this passage to let the wonder set in. Oh, how encouraging and convicting that would be to every married couple in the room.
Proposition #5 – The language of God, written and spoken, contains and catalyzes supernatural wonder and reconnection with the Divine for those with ears to hear… who give it attention.
Exercise #5: Consider your favorite Bible passage. What about it excites you? What are its supernatural, awe-inspiring qualities? Do the same exercise with Philippians 4:12-13, Romans 8:28, and Ephesians 2:10, 3:19, and 6:10.
Conclusion
The call to Christian attention, image, agency, and identity is an invitation to a higher, more glorious, plane of Reality. God uses storms and chaos to free us from conformity with two-dimensional carnal-mindedness. A season like this will not come again in our lifetimes. The Holy Spirit is responsible for the lion’s share of the work. Our reasonable response is cooperation. The beginning move is surrender and abandonment to the life of Christ.
God bless you with “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe (Ephesians 1:1-19).”
Have a strong day in the Lord,
Rob
American Psychological Association. (2024). Agency. In APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://dictionary.apa.org/attention
American Psychological Association. (2024). Attention. In APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://dictionary.apa.org/agency
Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Agency. In Britannica.com dictionary. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/science/attention
Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Attention. In Britannica.com dictionary. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/science/agency
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Agency. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attention
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Attention. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agency