Puzzle Box |
| Posted by Mike (mike) on Nov 20 2007 at 11:33 AM |
One of the keys to successful puzzle completion is some sort of an idea of what in the name of Sam Hill it is supposed to be! The picture on the front of the box was the only way we could possibly know what this puzzle was to look like and as such provided the framework to evaluate each piece and it’s place in the puzzle. It was always a temptation to try and force a piece where it didn’t belong, give it a snip here or there and get out the colouring markers to blend the colours!
In my often devious and mildly sadistic thoughts, I thought it might be entertaining if someone took the puzzle pieces and put them in a different box!! Nothing too far out of wack but just enough to cause some real confusion and a good laugh! A few years ago, that happened to me in my faith. Yep that’s right, I discovered that someone, somewhere changed the box – the picture of God and Christianity.
I didn’t realize it but as the pieces began to come together, many of the pieces didn’t fit! The only way to make them fit was to cut them, colour them and pretend that the pieces were in the right places. Now faith is a funny thing. Try this stunt with accounting, rocket making, medicine, etc and you will soon realize that someone is doing something that just doesn’t fit. But somehow, in faith, we follow the picture that other people present, a picture we like, a picture that brings us comfort and begin slamming the pieces together only to discover, sooner or later, the pieces don’t fit! The image that begins to appear as the pieces are put in place for us is that of a denomination, a spiritual leader and ultimately ourselves. It was said that "God created man in His own image so we returned the favor!" How often do we build our faith upon the image, the prosperity and to the glory of man? So much of what is apparent to me is that the western church has tried to build the puzzle or mystery of God in our own image and we wonder why we need to fudge, twist, spiritualize and rationalize the picture God gave us with the one we are building.
I come from a main-line and charismatic back-ground. I have read and listened to many leaders in the west who expounded a great length concerning the faith. A few years ago I reached a place with enough pieces in place to discover God is not who I thought He was. This was a serious problem because it was as if God pulled the proverbial pin on my theology and like a house built on sand, it could not stand. I will tell you what the ‘pin’ was later. Just as the cover of the puzzle box provides the framework, so does the picture or the bias with which we approach our Christian faith, specifically scripture. For example, if we come with a box cover of a mean and angry God, we will discover a mean and angry God everywhere we look. If we come from a perspective of God - the celestial Santa Claus, we will see something completely different. I have become aware that the temptation to form God into our own image or that of the prevailing wind of the culture is so strong! It seems to me that God did not reveal Himself to us through the Bible for just western people or white middle aged, middle class men and women.
It seems if He is indeed the God of the universe, He created the earth and each person on it where they live and how, it seems to me then God must be the same nature for everyone. Therefore what is true about God and His nature in Kenya, should be true in Canada. Yes, circumstances are different but the nature and the principles of Gods nature are not bound by those circumstances! His ways are so above our ways! So for me, it makes no sense to be believing by faith for a Lear Jet and have every expectation to get it while a Christian in the Sudan is starving.
God has removed much of my theology around prosperity, the church, end-times, leadership, the Kingdom, success and failure and so much more. This is good why? Because He is leading me into a place where He is revealing Himself outside of the cultural context or box I have had Him in. Perhaps a little more as He really is. So what does this all mean really? What was the ‘pin’? I discovered the pin which God pulled was ‘me’. My self-centredness, my destiny, my inheritance, my kingdom, my wisdom, my authority, my identity, my, my, my, my, my… Get the idea. The lynch pin in my western theology is "me". I believed and was taught in a very pious, christian veneer way that God existed for my happiness, for my pleasure and prosperity. He was nothing more than a means to an end. If I used the right formula I could get what I wanted. The funny thing is, that when I cut and slammed a piece of scripture to fit my theology and it failed to produce what I was told it would, there was a theology for that too. I didn’t have enough faith, I didn’t do this or that. Sounds like not so much grace anymore! Sounds like a christianized Humanism.
Do I think I will ever be free of my cultural bias and see Him as He truly is? Probably not this side of glory as I know I see as through a glass dimly. What I am now aware of though is that I cannot contain God in my box of intellect or culture or experience, He is so much more. This is good news because the Kingdom of God is transcendant of culture and winds of trends. This means no matter the situation or the cultural angst, the Good News is Good News always! I can certainly experience Him in those contexts but perhaps as I continue to seek God for God,, for His glory, then maybe, just maybe this puzzle called faith will reveal the glory of God, as He really is.
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