I have been on many athletic teams and the goal was always to come together as one unit, to have everyone perform their role at their very best. Those special moments where is comes together are magical and hard to forget. I have had those moments as a runner, “back in the day” which was a bit more than 30 years ago.
There are other examples of “becoming one”, the most poignant being marriage of course. While the words say “to become one flesh” we all know that doesn’t happen. Marriage is about two individuals coming together by agreement. Each retains who they are and yet, their togetherness is one. I have done marital therapy for many years and those times when a man or woman says “he/she completes me” I knew it was not go well. A relationship based on needing the other person is doomed to fail. It means that one feels incomplete and unfulfilled.
The best relationship is one in which who you are is enhanced and complimented by the other. Whether marriage or friendship, this principle is true: the “becoming one” is based on choice and commitment, never on need. This kind of relationship makes each person want to be better and to do things out of a sense of giving and appreciation.
We are now and have always been one with God. This is hard for many religious people to accept because they were taught that salvation is that moment when we find God’s forgiveness and accept the atonement of Jesus on the cross. But is that really true? Did Jesus have to die for God to love us again? That simply does not make sense if you believe in a loving God.
Here is a different view to consider. Salvation is that moment when we realize that the Creator of the Universe resides inside of us and always has. Our becoming one has always been and salvation is the discovery of that. The rest of the Christian life is the process of growing in the relationship that is always, every day, voluntary on our part. God does not complete us because, again, a relationship of need does not work very well. We are a creation in whom God is “well pleased”. We are, instead, in a relationship that makes us better than we ever thought we could be and we want to do all that we can to make the Other proud of us. When we realize that we choose every day to acknowledge our relationship with God, that is call free will.
Over my 60 plus years, I have come to realize that I value the God who is within me because that Member of the relationship never gives up on me, not ever. Repentance means to turn and go a different direction. We don’t repent from the sins we commit. We repent from choosing to go our own direction. Much that I was taught at church kept me from growing my relationship with God. Scripture teaches that we much each “work out our own salvation”. It is a process not a destination, the goal of which is to become one with the One who loves us most.
TMM