We humans are a competitive breed. We even compete in this game we call "one-upmanship". You know how that works. We hear out your story or claim or, in Christian circles, even your woes, and then, we follow it with ... something better. I remember in church groups when we shared testimonies about how sinful we were, but God saved us. Each one got worse and worse. Or our prayer requests. "Please pray for my brother. He's depressed." "Please pray for my friend. She has cancer." "Please pray for my mother. She has to raise me." Okay, well, you get the idea. We just like to win, it seems, even in our trials.
We even compete in our versions of God. "God to me is a great God because He is nice to me." "My God is better because He healed me from an illness." "My God is better because He loves me even when I don't." "My God is better because He saved me from sin." "Your God isn't so great. My God saves everyone." And we're back at it. Only, we don't get to do that here. God declares Himself to us. He speaks in His Word. He discloses Himself in His creation and in the Bible. He even claims things about Himself that would disqualify Himself from being "good" according to our measure. "I am YHWH, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am YHWH, who does all these things" (Isa 45:6-7). "Wait ... hang on ... He creates calamity? Oh, no, that's not my God." "So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills" (Rom 9:18). "Oh, no, God doesn't do that. That's not my God." "The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives" (Heb 12:6). "I'm sorry; that's just crazy. That is not my God. My God is better than that."
When will we learn? When will we let God speak for Himself? When will we submit to Him? When will we acknowledge the massive arrogance of telling God what's good and not, what's better, and whether or not we will allow Him to be who He claims to be? My God? He's the one, true God. He's best, not because of my evaluation, but because He is who He says He is and I have nothing more to offer and nothing to take away.
2 comments:
As long as my God is the one that has revealed Himself through the Bible by proving the Bible true every time, then yes, my God is better than your god, whether I agree with Him always or not.
Today’s message seems to build right off of Friday’s--“Did God Say…?” God is exactly as He says He is--not subject to our sanction or permission. Every time we say, “My God isn’t like that,” we are fashioning a personal god of our own making--pure idolatry!--and manufacturing one who has no power to save. If God reveals Himself to us in His Word to be one way, there is no other proper way available to interpret that--like it or not. It’s the ol’ take it or leave it.
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