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Have you ever played with magnets? Put the opposite poles of two magnets together and they
attract. Put the like poles of two magnets together and they
repulse. Put them close enough together with freedom to act
independent of all other influences and they spin around and lock
together. The same principle applies in our relationship with
God.
If we approach God with the side of us that sees mankind as the
most intelligent, creative force in our universe, we are immediately
repulsed by God, because we are in essence seeing ourselves as God and
cannot allow Him to get close without affecting our self image.
As much as God wants to draw close to us, the closer He gets, the stronger
the force with which our egos push us away.
If, on the other hand, we approach God
with the side of us that sees mankind as the created and God as the creator, we
find ourselves attracted to God. Once we get close to Him, we are
drawn into an eternal embrace.
I grew up attending a middle-of-the-road Protestant church. I
never really felt comfortable there, but it was a place you could go and
not feel particularly troubled by a lack of real faith. Many years
later, after relocating to another part of the country, we were
invited by our new neighbors to attend a fundamentalist church. The
message was so direct that I literally felt assaulted by the gospel.
Upon leaving, I said, "If you ever want to come back to
this church again, it will be without me." Like the magnet, I
was immediately repulsed by getting this close to what they called
"The Word of God." But once in His presence, I found God
interacted with my life in ways I couldn't easily explain or attribute to
chance. As with the magnet, once I got close enough to have my
position challenged, I found myself drawn to the truths I found about
human nature and God's nature.
As in nature, it is not the force of resistance that is our natural
state, but rather the path of least resistance that leads to the steady
state of union. Have
you gotten close enough to God to experience this, are you still feeling repulsed or not even close enough to feel the force?
"Has not my hand
made all these things? You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised
hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the
Holy Spirit!"
Acts 7:50-51 "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."
Words of Jesus Christ in
John 12:32 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
him.
Words of Jesus Christ in John 6:44 "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:3 |
