Praise and Integration

Why must there be an element of rebellion? Why must a part of me resist when I contemplate approaching the Word? Perhaps this is the basis for the doctrine of original Sin - one based not on biologic and scientific principles, but rather on the common, undeniable and maddening experience visited upon all who seek the Lord?

Psalm 65: 12-13

12 The pastures of the wilderness drip, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

The use of the reflexive in vv. 12-13 powerfully paints a portrait not simply of Creation praising God. Rather, that praise is manifest in the elements' fruitfulness, their "growing into" the peak of their intended character. There is a connection. Praise here is vocative, but also organic. The right "flowering" of a creature/creation is an elemental expression of praise for and to the Creator, just as a well-crafted pottery bowl "points to," or praises, the expertise of its creator. When we live as God intends, by such living and witness we praise God, and accordingly substantiate the praise we voice with our lips. In contrast, cf. the dissonance that God notes in Isaiah 29:13 --

13 And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote...

I think, even more than "hypocrisy," "dis-integration" is the appropriate term. ==> Segregation? Makes sense. Those who champion racial segregation are simply working out their own nature, i.e., the segregation in their selves of the voicing of (biblical) beliefs from the practice of broken judgment and alienation.

So, is not the quest for God - in a fundamental sense - a quest for integration? An organic yearning, arising from the core of the creature, for wholeness? Christ has purchased that wholeness, that integrity, that fruitfulness of intended/created character. We call it salvation.