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| GRACE@WORK MAIL 44/06
[November 24th 2006 Edition]
Recently I discovered what I should do if I were to
encounter a bear in the wild.
* If the bear is close to you, back away slowly. Never run.
* Act calmly. Move deliberately, as if you are not alarmed.
This will help to calm the bear, too.
* If you are in a group, bunch up, or join other hikers
nearby.
* If you are carrying pepper spray, get it ready, just in
case.
* Speak to the bear in a normal tone of voice. This helps to
identify you as a human and satisfy the bear's curiosity.
(The Official Parks Canada Visitors' Guide)
The underlying premise of the above instructions is that
bears are dangerous. They need to be approached properly.
It seems we are more afraid of bears than we are of God.
I think of how we saunter into the presence of God Sunday
after Sunday. I think about the kind of songs we offer to
Him.
Often we offer what my friend Leon calls "God is my
boyfriend" songs. Forgive me Kutless fans but when I hear
lyrics like the following, I blush. ( I know they do good
Christian rock stuff.)
"You are my desire
No one else will do
'Cause no one else could take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way to bring me back to You
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near"
"To feel the warmth of your embrace?" Are you nuts? Do you
think you can embrace the Divine Flame and not be fried to a
cinder? What were you thinking?
Compare how the biblical saints respond to encounters with
God.
Isaiah becomes acutely aware of his sinfulness and think his
destruction is imminent. (Isaiah 6:1-5)
Ezekiel falls face down on the ground. (Ezekiel 1:1-28)
Daniel faints, his face to the ground. (Daniel 10:1-9)
Moses is given specific instructions as to how he is to
approach God — He is to take off his sandals as a mark of
holy fear and submission. (Exodus 3:1-6)
In the totality of biblical revelation, we learn that God is
also our Father (Matthew 6:9) and our friend (John 15:15).
But as Jesus Himself points out after He washes the feet of
His disciples, He is friend, but He remains Teacher and Lord (John 13:13).
A lonely and fatherless generation wants to draw near to
God. They crave intimacy. But on their terms. And they run
the danger of idolatry, drawing close to a god of their own
making.
Miroslav Volf is but one of many voices who warn us of the
dangers of confusing God with our images of Him. He warns us
that:
"But in fact our images of God are rather different from
God's reality. We are finite beings, and God is infinitely
greater than any thoughts we can contain about divine
reality in our wondrous but tiny minds. We are sinful
beings, and God is different from what we conceive in our
selfishness and pride.
Finite and self centered as we are, we often forget God's
warning through the prophet Isaiah: "For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts' (55:9).
When we forget that, we unwittingly reduce God's ways to our
ways and God's thoughts to our thoughts. Our hearts become
factories of idols in which we fashion and refashion God to
fit our needs."
(Free of Charge, p. 22)
Recently I had the opportunity to thank a lecturer that had
blessed me so much in my time in seminary. I was in my late
20's then. He was in his fifties and had a number of
successful pastorates before becoming principal of a
theological college. He was an excellent teacher but what
shocked me was how he treated me — he treated me as a peer
when obviously I was not.
His condescension was encouraging and empowering. It was
used by God to help me gain confidence about life and about
ministry. I was touched that he reached out to me as a peer
precisely because I knew I was not.
We will never appreciate what it means that God "came down"
(Exodus 3:8) unless we realize how far that journey was.
Yes God is a welcoming Father (Luke 15:11-32) but He is
still the Wholly Other. He is both. Any intimacy that
forgets His awesome holiness and majesty is an encounter
with an idol we have made in our own minds, and not an
encounter with God Himself.
In the end a God who is intimate but not big is of not much
comfort. As I write this piece, I am very aware of so much
need — growing racial tensions in my own country, a number
of friends fighting cancer, fresh violence in Lebanon, etc,
etc, etc. I need a God big enough to take all these and more
in His stride.
A "boy-friend" God isn't nearly big enough.
And so daily I ask God for grace to fight the idolatry of my
mind and my heart. I continually allow Scripture to edit my
images and thoughts of Him. Periodic retreats to places of
natural beauty helps. And so does good literature.
C. S. Lewis is always helpful:
[of Aslan]
Mr. Tumnus: He's not a tame lion.
Lucy Pevensie: No... but he's good.
God is wild and dangerous. Approach with care.
But He is also good.
I feel loved in the embrace of this God. I feel safe
entrusting the world, and my life, into His hands.
Your brother,
Soo-Inn Tan
Write me!
At: sooinn@graceatwork. org
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| I left my handphone and wallet on the bus yesterday (so careless of me). Handphone missing but thank God my wallet is found, with my IC, NUS matric card and money intact. Praise God! My exam starts today and ends on 6 Dec. Will appreciate prayers. Thanks! | | |
| Went for Chinese worship in NUS organised by CVCF. Was actually going with the China students GC I'm co-leading, in the end only myself and my co-leader could make it. But I was blessed beyond my imagination. The Chinese worship singer is Amy Sand. Refreshed by Chinese contemporary music that worships God, reminded of the old days when I was listening radio 933 but much better. As I 'm typing here, listening to her cd I was blessed with. Thank God, current song Let Go and Let God | | |
| Thank God for prayer and fellowship with my sister Naomi this morning. Was wonderful, prayed for one another and our family-parents and 2 brothers. Also praying that my sis will come to visit our church this sunday as she is leaving her previous church. My heart's desire is that my whole family will all come to World Revival Prayer Fellowship to worship the Living God! Thank God I'm increasingly learning to focus on Him, and not men. In my speech, to say things as God has prompted me to, not tailor it to men's liking. Yeah ppl has told me i tend to be 'politically correct' as I have unusually high fear of offending ppl. I need to delight in the fear of the Lord, and not men, obeying Him whole-heartedly not only in things He called me to do, and what He wants me to say to ppl. Going for Yunnan nightover at Nav HQ this evening until tomorrow. Pray that the 30 odd Yunnan trippers will get to know one another better and bond together, that God will prepare us for the trip in Dec. | | |
| My qt today was ephesians 4:7-24 v23 stood out "to be made new in the attitudes of your mind" like in Rom 12:1-2 "do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" How? to fill myself with God's word realised the importance esp as I'm studying social psychology this sem: saw the power of social influence and my susceptiblity to social pressures. Pray that God's word will take root in my hearts and minds, in resisting the pressures of this world: the -ve influences from peers, media etc. That armed with God's word, I can stand up for Jesus, to be His salt and light! the word attitudes really stood out cos I was reading that chapter yesterday for my social psych project, indeed God's word can serve as attitude inoculation, to not conform to patterns of this world:) oh i'll be having my social psych test next mon, and project presentation next fri, and another test next tues. just sat for a test and handed up project just in time. Thank God cleared this "stressor"! I'm packed this two wks and even though time is running out, thank God for His peace, as I learn to trust Him. Exciting journey of faith God is leading me, amidst two first times, co-leading a nav grp and going for yunnan community service outreach in dec | | |
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