April 17, 2015

Genesis 42:21, God’s will…or not?

They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us.”

Sandra Bullock said “I'm a true believer in karma. You get what you give, whether it's bad or good”.

And so it goes…we love “KARMA”. We want to look at every circumstance in our lives as the logical consequence of our actions. Of course we don’t call it “karma”. We call it “God’s will” (far more spiritual). As I once mentioned, my dad used to characterize every promotion I received as “God honoring my faithfulness”. His sentiment makes all sorts of sense except, well, dad couldn’t really have known me that well and still say that! Possibly my promotions were simply God doing what God does.

This is important…

We love “karma” because it puts us in control. If we’re good…good things will come to us. Even if we call it “Gods’ will”, when we’re good…God blesses us. As though this is God’s job…to mete out rewards and punishment. Actually, this really makes us more powerful than God. And, we like it.

I’m not suggesting God does not respond to us according to our conduct. He is a very personal God and He loves rewarding us. I’m suggesting when we make it about our conduct rather than God’s providence we run a huge risk of disrupting the natural order of things. I was thinking…what if much of God’s focus is invested in sustaining his creation…regardless of us…and the only logical consequences are common to all: If we jump in the water we get wet. That’s a lot different than believing God is going to “make us wet” because we jumped in the water.

How else can we explain the times when we really deserved punishment and God gave us a “pass”? Well, it’s just the natural order of God’s creation that we don’t always get what we deserve for everything we do. Otherwise we have to contend with the possibility that God “didn’t notice” of didn’t treat us equally with others. Neither is a good possibility.

Tell me which makes the most sense: “I believe in God so He must let me go to heaven” or “God has designed His creation in such a manner that if we believe in Him we live with Him eternally”. The first is contingent on what “I claim” to be true. The second is contingent on what “God has designed” to be true.

It makes a difference…

Live boldly out there today…

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