Do you drink milk? (I do but only when I eat Oreos.) When we buy a carton of milk, we first look at which brand to drink and whether it’s organic, grass-fed, or not (if you care) and then check its expiration date. In this simple act, we create a sense of identity as someone who drinks organic, grass-fed milk. We become someone who is nutritionally and ethically conscious. And as we drink it, it becomes truly ours in that both our identity and body gain their strength.
According to Jeremiah, our act of trusting in something is related to our strength. So he says, “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength…” We trust in something that helps us form our identities. Here, “mere mortals” or “mere flesh” can be understood as that which doesn’t last forever. It’s something that has an expiration date. In the example of milk, no one has a strong attachment to the identity that milk strengthens. But we can expand this simple idea to something larger such as political, economic, and social privileges. These can be considered mere mortals or flesh because they don’t last forever. We might tend to think that our act of trusting in something can be detected easily but I don’t think it’s that evident. Jeremiah seems to suggest to us to look at how we strengthen certain identities we would like to continue with. What raw materials are we using to strengthen a sense of who we are? This question leads us to examine our hearts whether we know what we have our trust in. What’s the foundation of my being? What’s the ultimate ground of my existence? Using the milk example again, suppose I want to continue my identity as a nutritionally and ethically conscious, conscientious person. I’ll continue to drink organic, grass-fed milk to strengthen this identity. But I will have to make sure to check its expiration date so that I don’t get sick. The means of crafting as a nutritionally and ethically conscious and conscientious being has an expiration date. It doesn’t last more than two months. Milk can be easily replaced with anything that our society highly values. One can build one’s identity on abundant financial gains and become a billionaire. Money itself doesn’t expire but the identity as a billionaire does when money is no longer available or if that person’s assets are less than a billion. To keep this identity, that person will have to strengthen one’s assets and never stop investing. But again, this effort has its expiration date. When death comes, no financial gains will be available. Unless anyone is satisfied by the fact that this person at least died as a billionaire, it is hard to say that person trusted in God. This billionaire might have said he believed in God but his primary identity choice was a billionaire. God may have been used to strengthen his billionaire identity. Both milk and billionaire examples, you might feel, can be a bit far-reaching but you get my point. Where do we find our strength to build upon who we want to be? For Jeremiah, trusting in mere mortals is about what raw materials we craft and invent ourselves with and what identities we would like to hold onto. The issue lies in our desire to put on lots of self-images so that we can never imagine ourselves to be something else. We’re locked and closed up in all these identities that do not last forever. We find meanings based upon them, which become our strength to live. All these identities aren’t bad but they all fade away. They expire. It’s like drinking expired milk continuously to keep my nutritionally and ethically conscious and conscientious being. We certainly do not want to feed onto that which is past the expiration date. Jeremiah may shout at our world: “You’re not just how much you make. You’re not just how healthy you are. You’re not just how smart, intelligent, spiritual, religious you are. You’re not just your skin. You’re not just your job. You’re not just who you think you are.” It is crucial in our spiritual growth to hear this prophetic voice of Jeremiah, and we do so only when we keep silent. In contemplation, we can listen to “Be still and know that I am God” but we also need to listen to “Be still and know what you are not.” The first step to learning how to trust in God then begins with recognizing what identities we want to cling to and checking their expiration dates. Knowing that this identity that I’m holding onto is for the sake of serving others and it does have its expiration date, we are not fixated on one thing. We learn when to take it and when to let go so that we’re free. This freedom is linked with our act of trusting in God because we’re not enslaved to anything in this world but simply free in God, like a tree planted by water, growing its roots and branches freely. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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