“We want God to be ‘relevant’ to our lifestyle. We want what we can, as we say, ‘get a handle on.’ There is immense peer pressure to reduce god to fit immediate needs and expectations. But God is never a commodity to us. In a functionalized world in which we are all trained to understand ourselves in terms of what we can do, we are faced with a reality that we cannot control. And so we cultivate reverence. We are in the presence of One who is both before and beyond us. We listen and wait. Presumption–God-on-demand on our terms–is exposed as simply silly. Defining God down to the level of our emotions and thinking and then demanding that God work by the terms of our agenda, is set aside in favor of a life of worship and prayer, obedience and love–a way of life open and responsive to what God is doing rather than one in which we plot strategies to get God involved in what we are doing.”
Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005, page 46.
Related posts:
Bible Note #66: God’s Big Vision in Jesus
Pastor Note #134/Bible Note #55: Love of Jesus, Love of Neighbor
Pastor Note #119: Jesus’ Way of Power
Pastor Note #91: Loving our Enemies and Gospel Faithfulness
Pastor Note #70: True National Greatness
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