Stasis,
“A condition of balance among various forces; motionless” -Free Dictionary
A recent trip to the zoo in Atlanta, Georgia reminded me of the complexities of life and living. Much like a lingering glimpse into the night sky full of stars and wonder, as sense of smallness overtakes me for the sheer magnitude of the “fine tuning” required to create it all, much less keep it together. By comparison, I imagine all the Amazon warehouses around the world coordinating packages, shipments, and deliveries. Amazon is then but a limp shoelace lost in the corner of a shoe manufacturing plant.
What of “Stasis”?
How can perpetual motion of nature and the universe be “motionless”?
What of mankind and his freewill within stasis?
We have been asking these questions since time. Philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, botanists, pretty much anyone alive has stopped, at least on occasion, and contemplated the complexities of our world and universe.
And what of man? Is he but a cog in the perpetual shipping lanes of commerce and time? Or is he a part of a grand design, a marvel of DNA and cognitive powers, existing within endless multitudes of miracles, all balanced among various forces, as if motionless?
I am fond of this definition of Stasis.
“Similarity is stasis; difference is motion. And if the two happen to exist in dynamic equilibrium, everything is right in the world.” —Youngme Moon
Such contingency allows for both the predictabilities and the evolutions/choices within time, space and matter, as stasis remains moored in no uncertain terms.
THE FREE WILL OF MAN is such a contingency that leads to many calamities, dysfunctions, and war. Man, it is said, even creates his own change of climate. Despite his noblest intentions, he distorts and warps all that he purports to manage and supervise. Of these belligerencies, it can well be said that he is stasis, or predictable in his behaviors and his purposed choices in time. Every generation has recorded his blunderings along with the contrasting magnificent deeds of wonder—even love.
In fact, love must be why he was given free will in the first place. There is no love to be found within slavery, only a feigned supervision distorted by a slave master. Man exists within a stasis that is certain of an ability to seem out of control—out of balance. His free will is then a gift, a necessary proof of purposed existence.
Just as the lion moves about without impediment, yet with perfect stasis, so too man must follow his meaning and, dare I say, his design?
STASIS IS A DESIGN—A BALANCE IN WHICH
ALL IS HELD TOGETHER BY THE SAME FORCE THAT CREATED IT.
This design is so finely tuned that the most adept of mathematicians bow in amazement at such stasis found within the smallest of complexities around us and even within us.
The British Cosmologist and astrophysicist, Martin Rees remarked,
“Indeed, our everyday world presents intellectual challenges just as daunting as those of the cosmos and the quantum, and that is where 99 per cent of scientists focus their efforts. Even the smallest insect, with its intricate structure, is far more complex than either an atom or a star.”
Saturn is stasis, just as the sparrow. The single cell in the eye of a bat may dwarf the wonders of a distant galaxy. Yet, all these things move in synchronicity because of design. As to who or what designed all these immovables, perfectly balanced magnums of evolutionary obedience, one may choose at will. The statistical chance that no person, spirit, or thing is behind it all requires much faith; so much so that only atheists and scientists numbed by the infinity of improbabilities would dare believe it.
Remember that the will is an expression of perfect love. It behooves us then to choose wisely. Use science until science evolves into faith. Use faith as it melds seamlessly into scientific fact.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” –Hebrews 11:1
THE REAL ENEMY OF STASIS then is casual, unobservant belief, lacking in well needed faith. How can mankind observe the seen and imagine the unseen without faith in the maker of impossibly complex static move-abilities? Easy: Assumption. Assume that our limited cerebral potency and scientific machinery will somehow answer the questions of static predictabilities such that a designer is neither sought, nor imagined. We have no history of cognitive reason that should make us dream this any further. All I know and experience somehow just exists and remains as I take it all in minus any wonder? Believing this so, I then am an enemy of stasis as I choose to willfully deny creations still-pose and its dynamic, synchronous masterwork.
THERE ARE OPTIONS TO DENIAL OR PRESUMPTIVE, PRIDEFUL FLIPPANCY
In the beginning, stasis.
Consider that the God of the bible is indeed who He say’s he is. Consider that he alone can author and supervise such a creation as we experience so casually without regard to the herculean and the impossible.
What happens when something so common as human birth occurs? For those whose child it is, an amazement that shakes one’s existence to the very core sits atop what once was a statue of the common. This is but a sneak-peep into the heart of God and but a finger-touch of His deep, unfathomable love for us.
The beginning, or stasis, of Christian love and charity confesses, “I love and accept you just and you are”. The continuance of immovable motion must however follow the will and purposes of God who refuses to birth us into his kingdom of love while leaving us there in yet simple childlike wonder. As comfy as that may seem, He means to make us as His Son who we love and obey. He means for us to mature. He, then, “loves us just as we are, yet refuses to leave us in that condition.”
And now, His expectations then become ours concerning how we may love fellow believers, just as they are. We rightfully expect more. We see each other as mutual sojourners who now are become fellow Ambassadors for the Christ who created us unto good works. We become accountable to one another and even judged by and for one another to this end. We do as the scripture says,
“My friends, the blood of Jesus gives us courage to enter the most holy place by a new way that leads to life! And this way takes us through the curtain that is Christ himself. We have a great high priest who is in charge of God’s house. So let’s come near God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let’s keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water. We must hold tightly to the hope that we say is ours. After all, we can trust the one who made the agreement with us.
We should keep on encouraging each other to be thoughtful and to do helpful things. Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.” Hebrews 10:19-25
GOD EXISTS IN “DYNAMIC EQULAIBREUM”.
So then do we, and all His creation, in as much as we know, love and serve Him. This, He also Designed.
HE IS A GOD OF ORDER AND BALANCE and the Perfect Creator-Sustainer Who Holds All Things Together —
Here Revealed–His Grand Master Plan:
“We have not stopped praying for you since the first day we heard about you. In fact, we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better. His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything, and you will be truly happy. I pray that you will be grateful to God for letting you have part in what he has promised his people in the kingdom of light. God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son, who forgives our sins and sets us free.
Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen.
He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation.
Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth,
everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities.
All things were created by God’s Son, and everything was made for him.
God’s Son was before all else, and by him everything is held together.
He is the head of his body, which is the church.
He is the very beginning, the first to be raised from death, so that he would be above all others.
God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son.
And God was pleased for him to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross,
so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God.
You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So, God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. But you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. It was preached to everyone on earth, and I myself have become a servant of this message.” Colossians 1:9-23 CEV
CHRIST IS BOTH DYNAMIC CHANGE IN THE WORLD AND PERSONAL MOTIONLESS STASIS
“Jesus Christ never changes! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
A SUBMISSIVE WILL IS UNAVOIDABLE FOR THE CHRISTIAN–EVEN IF IT BE A STUBBORN ONE
“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
The Message of this writing on STASIS is to prove real the paradox of motionless, yet prolific, unalterable activity–both designed and free–yet both absent and present of will and choice.
Be about Stasis as an act of the will. Purpose your life to His perfect plan and will as though it could never be a choice. Though He knows our choice, and even though it may be a contrary decision on occasion to His perfect will, because He is perfect love, and that He can do no other, He still loves and keeps His own.
.. Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (ESV) Joshua 24:15
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Enjoy this song: “Things God Cannot Do” by Gordon Jensen
openhandspublications.com 