Yesterday I met someone who says he's a thinker in every aspect of his life. Except when it comes to God, he becomes very emotional so he says that's how God got and continues to get a hold of him. He reasons and persuades with logic but when he's moved to speak about his Creator, his feelings act up. He knows it's God's doing.
That seems to be a recurring theme in how God reveals himself to his people: He defies rules he's created and he acts in unexpected, incomprehensible ways.
We all comprehend procedures and processes in a logical manner -- and actually, we define what logic is to be. When we turn on a light switch, the light turns on (that's logical). When we freeze water, it becomes ice (that's logical).
We reject things that we cannot explain by our understanding and definition of logic. To completely destroy a powerful city, an army is to walk around it seven times (that's illogical; wars are won by weapons and force). To survive a universal flood, the solution's to build and enter a man-made boat (that's illogical; there's no boat that powerful, no flood that forceful).
We try to understand God with the limited amount of logic that we've discovered, decided, and 'proven' to be true. We create a logical realm of reality that matches the size of our understanding, and we place God in this realm, box, or whatever we call it to make sense of him. But who are we to confine God in a space we've carved out with our limited knowledge? Could it be that God's the one who created a box for us, placed us in, and gave us the freedom to roam around its walls so that we're not overwhelmed and lost by how grand and how infinite His space truly is? He gives us procedures and processes to help us make sense of our surroundings, to keep us safe, and to give a minuscule glimpse of what's infinitely possible. But He exists outside this safety net he's carved out for us. And he's not afraid to show it.
When I share my testimony of how and why I'm a Christian, I often preface it by saying it's not very interesting or moving. And I think it's true to listeners. It's like hearing chopsticks versus a majestic symphony. But it makes the most sense to me personally, and that's how God gets to me. He knows that I operate by evidence and facts. The need for logical answers that occupies my stubborn heart would never acknowledge or accept my need for a savior. So he's placed that faith in me at a young age - a faith that I didn't rationalize; a faith I don't doubt since it didn't evolve from my own understanding. My testimony serves as a constant reminder that I'm saved by God's revelation to me and not by my discovery of him.
Once we realize that the box we occupy is only a small subset of God's grand design, we're free to explore new grounds and expand the parameters of our understanding of 'logic'. This understanding allows us to recognize that something like how a child is conceived is a process God created to help us to make sense of life but in no way is he constrained by it. This understanding allows us to realize that the virgin birth can exist, that a murderer of Christians can become one of the most faithful evangelists of Jesus, and that this life to which so many place the upmost importance is only a vapor in God's ultimate plan.
Then, things will start making sense.
That seems to be a recurring theme in how God reveals himself to his people: He defies rules he's created and he acts in unexpected, incomprehensible ways.
We all comprehend procedures and processes in a logical manner -- and actually, we define what logic is to be. When we turn on a light switch, the light turns on (that's logical). When we freeze water, it becomes ice (that's logical).
We reject things that we cannot explain by our understanding and definition of logic. To completely destroy a powerful city, an army is to walk around it seven times (that's illogical; wars are won by weapons and force). To survive a universal flood, the solution's to build and enter a man-made boat (that's illogical; there's no boat that powerful, no flood that forceful).
We try to understand God with the limited amount of logic that we've discovered, decided, and 'proven' to be true. We create a logical realm of reality that matches the size of our understanding, and we place God in this realm, box, or whatever we call it to make sense of him. But who are we to confine God in a space we've carved out with our limited knowledge? Could it be that God's the one who created a box for us, placed us in, and gave us the freedom to roam around its walls so that we're not overwhelmed and lost by how grand and how infinite His space truly is? He gives us procedures and processes to help us make sense of our surroundings, to keep us safe, and to give a minuscule glimpse of what's infinitely possible. But He exists outside this safety net he's carved out for us. And he's not afraid to show it.
When I share my testimony of how and why I'm a Christian, I often preface it by saying it's not very interesting or moving. And I think it's true to listeners. It's like hearing chopsticks versus a majestic symphony. But it makes the most sense to me personally, and that's how God gets to me. He knows that I operate by evidence and facts. The need for logical answers that occupies my stubborn heart would never acknowledge or accept my need for a savior. So he's placed that faith in me at a young age - a faith that I didn't rationalize; a faith I don't doubt since it didn't evolve from my own understanding. My testimony serves as a constant reminder that I'm saved by God's revelation to me and not by my discovery of him.
Once we realize that the box we occupy is only a small subset of God's grand design, we're free to explore new grounds and expand the parameters of our understanding of 'logic'. This understanding allows us to recognize that something like how a child is conceived is a process God created to help us to make sense of life but in no way is he constrained by it. This understanding allows us to realize that the virgin birth can exist, that a murderer of Christians can become one of the most faithful evangelists of Jesus, and that this life to which so many place the upmost importance is only a vapor in God's ultimate plan.
Then, things will start making sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment