Plato recorded a story from ancient Greek mythology about a people called the “split-apart” – a race that lived when the earth was young in utter wholeness and happiness. Each individual of this race had everything they needed within them (even the ability to reproduce on their own) and lived in complete contentment.
But the gods grew jealous of their joy and divided each of the (whole) individuals into two separate beings, splitting them apart from themselves and scattering them to the four winds. According to the story, that is why human beings, as their descendants, feel such longing and discontentment – we spend our lives searching for our missing half, aching for the one who can restore us to wholeness.
I believe that yearning for wholeness is part of what it means to be human. I’m not suggesting that we each have a single soul-mate to whom we must proclaim (as Tom Cruise did to Renee Zellweger in Jerry McGuire), “You complete me!” If you ask me, that seems like a tall order for any human being! Instead, I think that we all ache to feel complete because we were designed to live in deep connection with God.
Paul wrote, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.” (Ephesians 1:4 MES) We were designed to be the focus of God’s love, a love that longs to make us complete and whole and blessed. God doesn’t want us to settle for empty, broken lives. His plan is much more generous than that! He created us to be completed by His love.
It’s like we are all designed with a God-shaped hole within us aching to be filled; but it cannot be filled by our efforts. It is tempting for us to try to impress God, try to earn His love, but that will only cause us to feel frustrated and inadequate (or falsely superior if we are delusional about our success!).
Like our salvation, God’s love is a gift (an expensive gift purchased with Jesus’ blood). We are asked not to earn it, but to receive it. We receive God’s presence within us when we put our trust in Jesus to make us right with God. Christ alone has the ability to place redemption into our hearts like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, completing the picture of our true identity. This becomes our new reality, a constant presence deep within us regardless of where we are or how we feel at the moment.
For me this is a leap of faith. I choose to believe that God (through Jesus) is making me functionally whole in this lifetime. That means that I don’t have to be “enough” (good enough, smart enough, gracious enough, patient enough) on my own. It’s ok when I make mistakes or don’t “feel” my faith. In this life, my personal wholeness is something I’ve put in Jesus’ hands. What about you?
Going deeper – Critics of faith in God would contend that it would be selfish of God to design human beings to be incomplete without Him. But to me such a belief can only be held by those who prize independence over connection. I agree that it would be selfish of God to make us incomplete if we would be better off without Him. But God knew the blessing of community because God lives in community within Himself. He gave us what would be the greatest blessing to us, the most loving option – the opportunity to be completed by Him in community.
How do you feel about the concept of needing God to be truly complete? I know that my ego has strained against the sheer vulnerability of it! In order for me to go there I needed to allow myself to bet on a God of love. But it seems to me like the critics of faith are equally attached to the idea of an ugly God. After all, if they don’t believe that God exists, why do they seem so angry at Him?
