A great tragedy

For the past few days, I have been reading a book which has secured the foundations of my beliefs. As well as this book, I am tackling Isaiah, a book of the Bible which has shown me who God is and who I am not. As is often the case, reading sparks thought. Our minds are engaged and some of the most profound ideas are thus considered.

And perhaps you are like me: you know have known that truth or that idea for a while, but all of a sudden it hits you, it becomes very real. Both thoughts that you see in the illustration are ones I have always known to be true, but never fleshed out, or put into words. But I wanted the opportunity to share them with my readers, because I think they could be helpful - particularly for the Christian.

Thought #1: "The greatest tragedy of my life is that I can never say I glorified God for all of it"

If you are a Christian, I hope you really struggle with this one. If you are not a Christian, I really hope the spirit moves in you to show you that this is indeed a tragedy. We as humans were created for one "chief end" or purpose: to glorify God. I was not made to praise myself, but my creator.

I have a confession to make: I sinned against God. Is that your confession too? Examine your life, look at everything you have done for the past week, day, hours. How often do you find moments where you sought to bring glory to yourself, to comfort yourself, to satisfy your desires? How often do you find yourself praising God, pleasing God, honouring him? Well, before you think you have done anything to deserve righteousness with God, I think I should humble you. Why did you do everything that you "did for God"? Because our motives, our will, our affections, all have been tainted with sin.

What most haunts me is that my greatest purpose - more than any dream job, or bucket list goal - could never be achieved as I chose myself over my God. The greatest tragedy of my life is that here on earth, I will never meet the standard, the wishes of a God who gave me everything. I spit in the face of a God who gives me the opportunity to praise him.

From my conception I was a sinner in need of salvation. When God foreknew me, before he even created the world, I was separated from him by the darkness of my core. And so when I get to Heaven, where all my slate will be wiped clean by the blood of the lamb, where I will spend a new life of perfection praising him with not tears and no burden of sin, I can never truly say that for all my life I praised God.

There are blessings I find in this though. Firstly, I am in a state of humility where I know I can and never will match the greatness of our God. Even if I was perfect, I never would, for God possesses qualities I could never grasp. But I am more aware of that, even if saved by Jesus. Secondly, I know that in spite of my sin, and though I never fully achieved the purpose God made me for on this earth, he is still glorified and receives all the glory. In fact, God never needed me to be praised or to be known as Holy and Righteous. God is self-sufficient. In fact, it is an honour I I should be able to praise him, not his necessity.

So in joy let us praise God for the hope. But let this tragedy of our lives humble us, so that we might look to carrying out our purpose on this earth, though we may fall short.

Thought #2: "Scary, that every monotheistic Christian seems to be creating their own god..."

This one does truly frighten me. The most godly people you may ever know will accept unbiblical truths about the God of the Bible. Which is exactly why we must be reading our Bibles regularly. We must be on guard against any teaching that could point us to our own god rather than the God of the Bible.

Now, no Christian is ever going to get God right. In fact, if any Christian truly got God right, they would be God themselves. God has revealed himself in his word, but he has not revealed all of himself. One of his attributes is incomprehensibility. That is, we don't understand everything about him. We cannot summarise God, even in one book. But God's word is inerrant and complete. It is everything we need to know about God. However, even the Bible is impossible to fully understand. Hebrews 4:12 says this:

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." ~Hebrews 4:12

It is living and active, which means that it takes effect. You have probably come to a passage of scripture multiple times in your life and learnt something new every time, or been corrected by God's words. We should try to know what we can about God in a state of humility, knowing we can never fully know everything.

Knowing all of this, I cannot say that every Christian is purposely creating their "own god" - they may not have been informed by scripture. The point is the heart - do you truly desire to know who the living God is? What scares me more than unintentional ignorance, is fully-informed indifference. They read what scripture says, they know who the God of the Bible is, but they don't want him to be their God. I think it is largely these various views of who God is, what his attributes are, or how he works that has caused such divisions among Christians.

There are new Christians out there who may not be fully informed on the God they serve, and have only come to God with the understanding that: a) they are a sinner, b) they are in desperate need of a saviour, c) Jesus is God and their perfect lamb who died and rose again, defeating death and all their sins, and d) because of this, they face a greater hope in heaven with God, their father. Any Christian is saved if they truly believe in this message. But as Paul says, we are not be fed with milk all our lives, at some point, we need solid food.

As like any child, the Christian needs growth, and the growth process involves wrestling with who God is. The spirit will help the Christian come to the right conclusions - God wants us to know who he is. But when you come to a truth about God that offends you, something you are uncomfortable with, something that you find unfair, you should not dismiss it. As the passage in Hebrews said, God's words - God's revelation about himself - is sharp. It cuts deep. And it will offend. But don't change who God says he is. If he is who he is, marvel and be in awe, but don't go creating your own god whom you like.

I am scared that we as Christians are so easily creating the kind of god we like and passing it off as who God is. As the book I am reading points out, the sheep will hear the shepherd's voice. They will hear his truths. We are his sheep if we not only follow him, but follow him for who he is and how he has revealed himself to be.

So where to from here?

I probably sound like I am ranting. Or maybe I am speaking to willing ears. But there are two things we need to know, how great the tragedy our sin has created, and how easily we fall back into sin. We need to see that our hardness of heart comes because of our sin, and will cause us to see God with blind eyes (that is, to not see God at all).

If I do not worship God, that is tragic. If I do worship God, should he not be the God of the Bible? When we mess up, we do not live according to the purpose he has set before us. When we deny who he is, we cannot adequately follow the God of all creation.

And in the midst of all our failings, praise God for his grace in our lives, where he forgives where we have fallen short. Because the truth is, we do serve a loving and forgiving God. I am saddened I do not fulfill my purpose. I am angry that so often I refuse to accept the God of the Bible. But I pray that everytime I might come to God in humility and reverence, ask him forgiveness and pray that I might be able to not only praise God, but praise him for who he is.

Christian, fulfill your calling, and seek out the one true God with the Spirit's much needed help. And when you fail, crawl to him and ask him for guidance. And the Lord, in his gracious mercy, will forgive.