Thursday, April 05, 2007

Boxing God

Layton Howerton wrote a song a few years ago called Boxing God. The root thought in his lyrics was the battle of wills we often face when we want our way and God wants His. God always wins.

I've been thinking lately about a different type of Boxing God. The one where we all want to put God in a box that fits our own finite imaginations. Admit it. You do it, too.

My small group started studying the Gospel of John this week. It has made me ponder more about how Israel boxed God. No one had heard a word from God in 400 years when Jesus showed up on the scene. No wonder they didn't recognize God when they saw Him. During those centuries they had the old testament, but they had scrutinized, organized, legalized and institutionalized their religious system. Jesus came along and turned the tables.

God never changes. He outlined everything we need to know about Him in the Scriptures. He came to earth in Person. But just when you think you have Him figured out, He does something to turn you on your head.

There's a big difference between someone who has religion and one who is led by the Spirit. There's an abundance of religious institutions, but only one universal organism that is the Church. Even the creed that speaks of the "Holy Catholic Church" means the latter not the former.

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he told her "an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

I can't box God and what I know about him is just the tip of the iceberg. When I sit down with someone and try to explain in five minutes how they can have a relationship with God through Jesus, it reminds me very much of a scene from The Matrix. "You can take the blue pill and everything will be just as it was, or you can take the red pill and understand things the way they really are." Becoming a Christian is very much like being born. It's like the first step in a journey of a thousand miles. One amazing thing I know about God is that he relates to each of His children personally. There are no six degrees of separation. No priest is necessary because that is Who Jesus is. He is the Door. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

"Experiencing God" (by Henry Blackaby) holds some sound advice for Christians. Look to see where God is working, then join Him. (Don't try to get Him to join you.) It's a little like Abe Lincoln's response, "It is not 'is God on my side,' but 'am I on God's side?'"