Today I was studying in the Word and it struck me just how little I truly matter in the scheme of things. Not in the sense that God does not care for me, but with a sense of awestruck wonder that He does.Consider the infinite Being that God is. When your head starts to ache, read on. We have trouble understanding the little He has revealed to us about Himself in His Word, let alone understanding the totality of who He is. Our brains literally can't do it - we can't think in terms of the infinite. I think of Job, standing before God in the midst of his suffering, as God appears and questions him (Job 38-42). Can any of us control a tiny thing - a creature like a dinosaur, the weather - something that God created with barely a thought and a word? Consider that it doesn't take even the smallest fraction of God's power to cause the wind to blow, and yet in all our vaunted wisdom we have barely come to the point that we can track where it blows, never mind the very thought that it blows.
And so this insignificance can lead us down one of two paths: we can react with pride, saying 'I am more important than this!' and live a life based on our wisdom, in the way we think best, doing everything we can to increase our standing in this world. Or we can react with humility that leads ultimately to joyful security: we are nothing compared to the vastness of God! And yet he cares for us, elevating us into relationship with Him as His children should we respond in faith to His calling (John 3:16, Acts 16:31). With the merest whisper of a thought we came into being, and with the a similar whisper we leave this earth. But in between God has a plan for us, because he loves us - not due to our significance, but due to His Grace which surpasses all things. From before the foundations of the world we were chosen by Him (1 Peter 1).
So we can rejoice in our insignificance! God's plans - and His ability to enact those plans - far exceed our ability to understand. May we always remember this, that every human in existence bears His image (Genesis 1), and we can be saved through His grace to spend eternity with Him (Ephesians 2). Why does He choose to do this? I have no idea! But I know that He does, and His promises are true (Psalm 146). Amen.
Hi, Charles, this Tom, Mel's friend. We met last weekend. Sorry I passed out early. Anyway, thought I'd comment on this portion of your post. You write:
ReplyDelete"And so this insignificance can lead us down one of two paths: we can react with pride, saying 'I am more important than this!' and live a life based on our wisdom, in the way we think best, doing everything we can to increase our standing in this world. Or we can react with humility that leads ultimately to joyful security: we are nothing compared to the vastness of God!"
Certainly, these can't be the only two paths available to us when contemplating the vastness of the cosmos and our relative insignificance in relation to it? I've personally known one or two people who might fit into the latter path. But I don't know a single person who fits into the former, myself included. It seems to me that there must be myriad "paths" or reactions to universe at large. The human mind coupled with the limitless bounds of individual experience seems to ensure that. More importantly, an attempt to understand the varied and various reactions of others can help us understand our own reaction.
It was nice to meet the Ridgecrest elite! I am sure I will be out that way again at some point, and we can talk more. I was looking forward to it. I did have to laugh when my sister told me about her coaching, before I got there.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the outward expression of our response to reality can take many forms, but our choices when it comes to our understanding of reality are limited. In regards to the universe, was it created by a process of intelligent design, such as the Creation account in Genesis, or was it the result of Darwin's purposeless forces through evolution? The tremendous philosophical consequences of the 2nd view has to lead to the point where we admit that life has no ultimate meaning or purpose. It is worth what we make it (or don't). At that point, there are many reactions, but they all have to start with the self; there is no place else to begin. No matter how 'good' or 'evil' a person is, we can't but call it natural for them to be so, as the material world is all there is. All things should then be permissible, except for those behaviors we choose not to allow based on our social institutions, contracts and governments. Myself, getting what I want, becomes my basis for engaging in life in what I understand to be reality.
Bible-believing Christians should have a different perspective, which was my point in this post. We should properly understand that God, as the sovereign Lord of the universe, has no need of us, but He pursues a relationship with us anyway. And really understanding that should change the church to be more like Christ, which could change the world as it once did. We believers tend to forget the truth of God and we chase a lot of religion, instead - meaning we focus on the 'rules' we should live by, and not the reason (Christ) that we should live differently than the world.
In short, a Christian's view of reality should start with God's perspective, working down into the hearts of men and looking at ourselves as He sees us. We shouldn't start with ourselves and seek to live our lives to fulfill our own needs.
Does that make sense? I've been sick and may be rambling some, but I didn't want to be too late in responding.