Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Bumper Car Faith

Ecclesiastes 8:11 says this: "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil."

For a while, David operated in the same way. Until held accountable.

It's an interesting dynamic: this preoccupation with reading God's "response" to a sin - whether He's swift or silent - as punishment or permission.

In Isaiah 57:11, God frames His question to man like this: "'Was I not silent even for a long time so you do not fear Me?'"

But for one who functions with that "bumper car" mentality, proceeding in a direction until sent flying backwards, the internal contemplations come something like this:

Psalm 10:13 "He has said to himself, 'You will not require it.'"

Zephaniah 1:12 "'...who say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good or evil!"'"

Psalm 94:7 "They have said, 'The LORD does not see, nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.'"

Ezekiel 8:12 "'For they say, "The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land."'"

It strikes me as a sad state in which to live, because so wholly defiant of God, pushing it to the limit, until something else speaks to the conscience and causes a new aim and compliance. Why is the moral compass left on default? Why is that kind of curtailing the only boundary or guideline, when a deliberate aim at holiness would be so much fuller a manner to live?

Part of it comes from not fearing God [Ps. 36:1], but another aspect could easily be that there's a lack of intentionality. One song lyric puts it like this: "Am I doing everything to follow Your will, or just climbing aimlessly over these hills?" ("Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly)"/Sanctus Real).

Second Peter outlines so much more. There is even a list in the first chapter, from verses 5 through 7 (ex. faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love). But even larger is the motivation behind those qualities; for we pursue them not for the sake of possessing them, or for flaunting some religious superiority/purity, but rather, in the reverent acknowledgment of the preceding verses. From verses 3 and 4 we read, "...seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

Were we to spend the rest of our life offering up these souls and bodies as living sacrifices, that would be 'an offering far too small' for the full deliverance and free pardon of which we have become partakers. We wouldn't see our obligation to God as a perfunctory resonance with His punishment, and redirection. We would seek heartily after His ways, and all that delights Him, because our hearts would be turned toward Him in a way that recognized with a bowed-down humility that we are nothing; that we, who corrupted ourselves most willingly, and set ourselves on a path of destruction, were saved from God's holy wrath.

And perhaps we would no longer see ourselves as having the "liberty" to exercise our sinfulness because not immediately "caught." Perhaps then our cry would be more akin to Ezekiel's, when he - in full understanding that 'all things have been created through Him and for Him' (Col. 1:16) - proclaimed, "'O LORD... You are God in Israel and... I am Your servant'" (1 Ki. 18:36).

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home