Monday, October 12, 2009

The end of the matter is...

“In the end...transcendence is too painful. To embrace it is to give up control of the universe. It is to admit that the only thing I can do to get in line with whatever is in control and to 'get on its good side' is to surrender in trust, belief, and obedience. It is to confess that I cannot with my own intelligence ferret out the meaning and significance of life. It is to admit the other side of what Gunton called an 'inescapable' choice: that 'God...provides the reason why things are as they are' [Gunton, The Triune Creator, 36]. It is to refuse the serpent's suggestion that I can not only become like God, I can actually become God. This is a frightening place to live, and the other understanding is much more comfortable.”—The Bible Among Other Myths, page 191

<idle musing>
But, I want to be God! I deserve to be God! Everyone and everything should serve me! I am the center of the universe! Why doesn't everyone realize it and start worshiping me and doing what I want them to?

We recently returned from seeing our grandchildren. They are wonderful kids, and we love them dearly, but they don't have to be very old before they start thinking that way! They think the world revolves around them. It doesn't—usually! But, we are the same; we just have more sophisticated and veiled ways of saying it...

But, guess what? The world doesn't revolve around you and me anymore that it revolves around them. It revolves around God, who has made himself known in Jesus Christ. In the end, that is a much more comforting thought; I would hate to live in a world where I was God!
</idle musing>

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