"The most important thing in life is knowing God better." So said theologian and author Dr. Selwyn Hughes in his daily devotional booklet "Every Day with Jesus:The Character of God." Dr. Hughes, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at his home in Farnham, England, does more than make the statement. He explains why it is true. "If God is not our primary focus, then everything else will soon get out of focus."
Does his response sound churchey? Something you'd expect a devotional writer to say? But wait! He gets to the heart of the issue in his booklet's Introduction. "When given permission to dominate our thoughts, our personal matters become impossible to satisfy. We could speak of them all day long and never tire of their finest details." We become man-centered and not God-centered.
Yet when you read the Bible, the first words are "In the beginning God ... " The Bible is HIStory. It's about God seeking man, not man seeking God. It's message is not how to get to God but how God came to us! When we put ourselves first and God second, we become entrenched in our own self-absorbed, self-referenced lifestyle. And we lose focus.
Today I was on an airplane. I saw the tiny dots on planet Earth that we call houses, inhabited by even smaller people. Above it all, I witnessed their scurrying about in miniscule cars like rats in a maze of interstates and highways. How could any of them think the world revolved around them, yet the moment I landed, I lost my heavenly perspective. Life once again was all about me. I lost focus.
Surely, God watches every sparrow fall and counts the number of our hairs. We are not unimportant, but we are not all-important. If we are to know God, we must study His character. I tried to strike this theme in my book, Living Between the Ditches: When God Doesn't Make Sense. We can know God. God is mystery. By embracing both truths, we keep from living in the ditches of a self-focused life.
Showing posts with label knowing God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knowing God. Show all posts
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Living Between the Ditches — NOT
As I passed a coworker's desk, she brightened and said, "Living between the ditches!" Having read my book, she was using my "code words" to describe how she was coping with her everyday (and some extraordinary) struggles.
What does it mean to live between the ditches? If you haven't read my book, here's a brief re-cap: The Christian life is often described as a journey. Jesus said we're on a narrow road heading to God's house. Paralleling the road, in my experience, are spiritual ditches. We can easily find ourselves stuck in one or the other of these ditches, or we can bounce between them like the proverbial rubber ball. These ditches represent the extremes of biblical paradoxes.The one I explore in this first book is
What does it mean to live between the ditches? If you haven't read my book, here's a brief re-cap: The Christian life is often described as a journey. Jesus said we're on a narrow road heading to God's house. Paralleling the road, in my experience, are spiritual ditches. We can easily find ourselves stuck in one or the other of these ditches, or we can bounce between them like the proverbial rubber ball. These ditches represent the extremes of biblical paradoxes.The one I explore in this first book is
We can know God. God is mystery.
Both ditches contain truth, and both are true at the same time (a paradox). But if we insist on living out of one truth without considering the other, we forfeit progress on the road to our heavenly home. Living between the ditches represents the balance intended by God for living in the light of His revealed truth.
During the year I've found two interpretations of my key concept which are NOT true.
1. Balance (living between the ditches) doesn't mean a middle ground between the paradoxical truths. Certainly, we're not to live as though we might know some of God and we might not know other parts of Him—sort of half-way knowing Him. ALERT! To know God is to experience a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross provided a bridge between sinful mankind and a holy God. Knowing God through Christ is a sure thing, not 50 percent of a sure thing. We can know God personally in an intimate relationship that's is so rewarding Paul said it was worth joining in His sufferings!
The "ditch" here is settling into a comfortable, chatty relationship with God in your back pocket, so to speak. This characterization—or familiarization—of God reduces Him to a puppet reacting to our string pull. Then when something "bad" happens, we have the "right" to withdraw our support because God didn't come through for us. If you find this thinking far-fetched, check with some of your acquaintances who've stopped coming to church. Chances are they blame God for some misfortune.
When we balance our personal relationship with God with His mystery as creator and sustainer of the universe, life becomes less about us and more about Him. This view takes away our narcissism and replaces it with a holy awe. We worship God, not ourselves; we live for His pleasure, not He for ours. In this mystery, we find fulfillment. Trust abounds in the arms of One so worthy of trust.
Stay tuned for part 2 of LBD—NOT!
During the year I've found two interpretations of my key concept which are NOT true.
1. Balance (living between the ditches) doesn't mean a middle ground between the paradoxical truths. Certainly, we're not to live as though we might know some of God and we might not know other parts of Him—sort of half-way knowing Him. ALERT! To know God is to experience a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross provided a bridge between sinful mankind and a holy God. Knowing God through Christ is a sure thing, not 50 percent of a sure thing. We can know God personally in an intimate relationship that's is so rewarding Paul said it was worth joining in His sufferings!
The "ditch" here is settling into a comfortable, chatty relationship with God in your back pocket, so to speak. This characterization—or familiarization—of God reduces Him to a puppet reacting to our string pull. Then when something "bad" happens, we have the "right" to withdraw our support because God didn't come through for us. If you find this thinking far-fetched, check with some of your acquaintances who've stopped coming to church. Chances are they blame God for some misfortune.
When we balance our personal relationship with God with His mystery as creator and sustainer of the universe, life becomes less about us and more about Him. This view takes away our narcissism and replaces it with a holy awe. We worship God, not ourselves; we live for His pleasure, not He for ours. In this mystery, we find fulfillment. Trust abounds in the arms of One so worthy of trust.
Stay tuned for part 2 of LBD—NOT!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Premise: Living Between the Ditches
The fact that Knowing God by J.I. Packer is still in print after more than 30 years indicates a wide interest in unveiling the mystery of relationship with God. Countless books have dealt with the deeper spiritual life, intimacy with God, and how to achieve that goal. I believe my contribution to this effort is to present knowing God as a factor of integrating God’s desire to be known without our having to explain away His mystery. We will never know all of God, nor would that be in our best interest. At the same time, His mystery should not prevent our seeking to know God intimately.
In the "Introduction" to my book I present the narrow road as a metaphor for the Christian life. The psalmist called it a path (119:105). Jesus called it the Way (Jn. 14:6). We don’t literally walk down a road as we go through each day. However, life is often described as a journey. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, “ ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’ ”
When I picture this narrow road, I see ditches on either side, somewhat like physical ditches alongside a country lane. The image of ditches suggests that we may fall, tumble, slide, or walk off the road of life into a ditch on one side of the road or the other. If we do, we cease to make progress on the road to God’s house. So we must learn to navigate the road in such a way that we live between the ditches.
Christians always encounter Scriptural truths in spiritual ditches. So why not stay there? The problem is that we can see only a part of the truth, and living out of it alone provides insufficient direction for the journey. That’s because the truth in the ditch is half of a paradox. The word paradox is defined as two truths that exist side-by-side yet seem to be contradictory.
The way to relate to God is by living between the ditches of a God who wants to be known as well as a God of mystery. Although neither ditch serves us well alone, both are essential. We must hold in balance this God who wants to be known yet worshipped with fear and awe. In place of holy inertia, we can relate to God with confidence.
To help the reader conceptualize this truth, I've related the fictional story of Layton and Amy Brooks (see earlier posts). Interspersed throughout the content, the story describes Layton’s personal struggles with his ex-wife Amy, both of whom are on the path to a new and meaningful relationship with God. Layton, Amy, and the other characters illustrate the premise of learning to live between the ditches.
In the "Introduction" to my book I present the narrow road as a metaphor for the Christian life. The psalmist called it a path (119:105). Jesus called it the Way (Jn. 14:6). We don’t literally walk down a road as we go through each day. However, life is often described as a journey. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, “ ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’ ”
When I picture this narrow road, I see ditches on either side, somewhat like physical ditches alongside a country lane. The image of ditches suggests that we may fall, tumble, slide, or walk off the road of life into a ditch on one side of the road or the other. If we do, we cease to make progress on the road to God’s house. So we must learn to navigate the road in such a way that we live between the ditches.
Christians always encounter Scriptural truths in spiritual ditches. So why not stay there? The problem is that we can see only a part of the truth, and living out of it alone provides insufficient direction for the journey. That’s because the truth in the ditch is half of a paradox. The word paradox is defined as two truths that exist side-by-side yet seem to be contradictory.
The way to relate to God is by living between the ditches of a God who wants to be known as well as a God of mystery. Although neither ditch serves us well alone, both are essential. We must hold in balance this God who wants to be known yet worshipped with fear and awe. In place of holy inertia, we can relate to God with confidence.
To help the reader conceptualize this truth, I've related the fictional story of Layton and Amy Brooks (see earlier posts). Interspersed throughout the content, the story describes Layton’s personal struggles with his ex-wife Amy, both of whom are on the path to a new and meaningful relationship with God. Layton, Amy, and the other characters illustrate the premise of learning to live between the ditches.
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