We believe God is involved in and cares about our daily lives.
"I lift up my eyes to the mountains -
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
Maker of heaven and earth."
Psalm 121:1-2 (TNIV)
What an incredible creedal statement to begin our walk through our core competencies. We believe God is involved in and cares about our daily lives. I believe God is involved in and cares about my daily life. If this is not true, then I think I want to cash in my chips on the whole deal right now.
I grew up in what is called a protestant, evangelical environment. My parents were Southern Baptists. Most of the people I grew up with were normal people, conservative by nature, but not flaming fundamentalists by any means. I learned the bible from my Sunday School teachers and when I was old enough, I "received Jesus as my personal Savior." Just typing that phrase sounds a bit odd to me today. I've played golf on a nice enough golf course to get my own personal caddie, too. That caddie was there to serve me, to help me, to fetch my balls out of the trees and the water, to clean my clubs, to repair my divots and to make sure I hit the puts in the right direction. This however is not what we are saying about God when we say He is a personal God. We are not creating a "Personal Jesus" for everyone.
Our belief is that God is personal in nature - he is not distant, remote or abstract. He is not an idea or a philosophy. We believe He is right up in our world, right there in our problems and our concerns, or joys and our celebrations. He cares about whether or not you get that job, whether your kids do well in school, whether your test results come back positive or negative. No matter the mountain facing us - whether one we are afraid to climb or one we stand atop with celebration, our help comes from Father, from the Lord. He is the maker of all that we see and all that we don't see yet. He has our best interest at heart - not always our current interest. Check out what God says to us in Jeremiah 29...
"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." - Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)
That is incredible. This aspect of God is one thing that separates Christianity from other religions. We are not a religion where our works are an attempt to get us to God, but rather we understand God to have stepped into our world to meet us where we are. He is personally invested in His creation. He loves us. He is involved in our daily lives and He cares about our daily lives.
How would your life be different if you believed this as a way of life - not just a mental fact stored away? How does it impact you on a daily basis?
If it's legal to have a "favorite" core belief, this may be mine. What a difference it makes to know that my life matters to God. You're right: the God of the Bible is unique--no other religion teaches that its god cares and is deeply engaged in the lives of people. It makes life worth living!
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of the movie City Slickers, where Curly (Jack Palance) is talking to Mitch (Billy Crystal) :
ReplyDeleteCurly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
Curly: This. [holds up one finger]
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean S###.…
Mitch: But what is the “one thing?”
Curly: [smiles] That’s what you have to find out.
This is that one thing: that God is personal; that He is involved in and cares about my daily life. Every thing else hinges on this truth.
Even Albert Einstein got it. He said: I want to know God. The rest is just details.
It is amazing how such an important truth can be so hard to live out though. I so want to control my own life. I don't know why because I'd just screw it up. God has such bigger plans, but I often forget to ask God for all the little things too. The big things absolutely, but the little ones not so much. Then one of my kids prays to God that he will only be given broccoli stems, no flowers, and I remember that God cares about the details too. And yes I cut off the florets for him.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Kathleen. Believing something as a truth and actually believing something as a way of life. I might argue that if I don't buy into it as a way of life, then I don't really believe it. This will be an ongoing theme throughout our discussions about the competencies. It's not just that we can competently discuss these 30 things, but that our lives can competently live out them as well.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I became a follower of your blog today!