Many years ago I attended a workshop led by a speaker who has psychology/counseling background during a Christian conference. I don't remember much from the talk other than the term "self-actualization" was introduced. For a long time I thought it represented the quest of my life and a struggle.
Due to a recent responsibility to disciple a new believer, I go back to my notes back from my Hong Kong years and study the detailed version of the Gospel Bridge.
1. How do we know God exists
2. Why so much suffering if there's a God? (The problem of sin)
3. God's solution through Jesus Christ to suffering and sin
4. Man's response
I am reminded that, as God's solution to man's predicament, Jesus the Son of God incarnated as the Son of Man, and took the role of a servant to serve the needs of the sick, the poor, & the desperate. To such degree that he washed his students' feet and even gave his own life to serve man's ultimate suffering of death & of God's judgment.
The term self-actualization certainly doesn't describe Jesus' life. In fact, it stands as the exact contradiction. Jesus' mission was not to actualize himself but to do his Father's will.
My life cannot possibly be driven by self-actualization, if I am a follower of Jesus, the embodiment of servanthood. Can it?
Self-actualization - you're deceitful.
4 comments:
According to Maslow, yes, self-actualization is the ultimate goal for human, but in God, there's something much higher: we serve and live for the glory of God (Piper, 2006:18), and amazingly, there's a side-effect if we do this: we will come to know ourselves and have ourselves actualized.
So in my view, there's nothing wrong with self-actualization, only it can't be put before "the more important purpose".
Thanks for responding even though you're such a busy person.
Self-actualization needs to be put in a context, the context of actualizing the intention and purpose of the Creator. I think that's what you meant, right?
Horse before the cart or cart before the horse? Is self-actualization the horse or the cart? This is what's I think is deceitful.
> the context of actualizing the intention
> and purpose of the Creator.
> I think that's what you meant, right?
Yes. This has to go back to what I learnt from Larry Crabb: When we entered the salvation of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit granted everyone of us a special gift to build up the Body of Christ, the Church. When we practise that gift, the Body of Christ is built up and its growth(*) revealed to the World glorifies God. Self-actualization, or our significance (the term used by Crabb), is fulfilled at the (*).
This significance earned at (*) is fundamentally different from those earned from the world with our talent or profession. The former is experienced when we see how the Church grows because of us (and how the Holy Spirit helped us to glorify God), the latter is experienced when we see ourselves glorified -- one God-centred, one self-centred.
We don't disagree.
However, I would much rather talk about "the meaning" of man's existence. I am OK with Crabb's term "significance."
I really find the term "self-actualization" very problematic, which requires too much explanation to re-contextualize it from how the world uses it to mean something else.
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