Purpose Driven Life 12
“Cheated and disappointed” by God (Pg. 94). When we complain about what we don’t have it may be useful to consider what we deserve. Jesus took on our sins and took our punishment. So, what we actually deserve is to be beaten, spat upon, scorned, scourged, stripped, hung from a tree until our own weight forces the breath of life from our lungs. That is what I deserve. So, I am very happy for whatever I have.
But that doesn’t resonate with many people. Perhaps because as a youth I thought that perfection was attainable and then failed often enough to have to admit that I can do no good work. As a youth I sought to save the world. As young man I lowered my expectation to leave it better off for having lived. With maturity I realized it could barely leave it no worse than I found it. Now I would consider it a miracle of providence if I did only little damage. So the image of what I deserve compared to what I have makes resentment toward God inconceivable.
“Do great things for God” (pg 96) Oh, please! Which of my works will be a real help for God. “Gee, thanks, I was having trouble doing that myself.” No, it is all about allowing God to do great things through us. We just have to get out of the way and let him.
The verse “I stand at the door and knock” sometimes engenders a picture of us busy about our lives and over in the corner of the room is a door. God standing outside the door and knocking. I think it is not so much that we don’t open the door; it is that we are holding it closed with all our might, piling up furniture in front and nailing it shut. Denying God is not a passive act; his works are all around us. His blessings cry out to us on every side (Romans, right?). It is a real effort to keep him out, one of turning away, holding down, straining and sweating to keep him out of your life.
“God let Jacob win” (pg. 97). I don’t know if I can buy God throwing the fight. That is not what I read. Jacob could not win and in the end he could only hold on. That is an image I can relate to (it is an image I have carried for years) of being battered and hopeless but holding on to Jesus with all the strength I have left. I think the passage is more about the tenacious faith of Jacob. He had previously gotten by with trickery rather than hard work. But alone in the desert he was at the end of his rope, expecting to get his comeuppance from Esau. He held on to God because he had no other hope.
But that doesn’t resonate with many people. Perhaps because as a youth I thought that perfection was attainable and then failed often enough to have to admit that I can do no good work. As a youth I sought to save the world. As young man I lowered my expectation to leave it better off for having lived. With maturity I realized it could barely leave it no worse than I found it. Now I would consider it a miracle of providence if I did only little damage. So the image of what I deserve compared to what I have makes resentment toward God inconceivable.
“Do great things for God” (pg 96) Oh, please! Which of my works will be a real help for God. “Gee, thanks, I was having trouble doing that myself.” No, it is all about allowing God to do great things through us. We just have to get out of the way and let him.
The verse “I stand at the door and knock” sometimes engenders a picture of us busy about our lives and over in the corner of the room is a door. God standing outside the door and knocking. I think it is not so much that we don’t open the door; it is that we are holding it closed with all our might, piling up furniture in front and nailing it shut. Denying God is not a passive act; his works are all around us. His blessings cry out to us on every side (Romans, right?). It is a real effort to keep him out, one of turning away, holding down, straining and sweating to keep him out of your life.
“God let Jacob win” (pg. 97). I don’t know if I can buy God throwing the fight. That is not what I read. Jacob could not win and in the end he could only hold on. That is an image I can relate to (it is an image I have carried for years) of being battered and hopeless but holding on to Jesus with all the strength I have left. I think the passage is more about the tenacious faith of Jacob. He had previously gotten by with trickery rather than hard work. But alone in the desert he was at the end of his rope, expecting to get his comeuppance from Esau. He held on to God because he had no other hope.
posted by Mark at 22:48
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