Unicorns, Superman and my Genie in a Bottle

As I took some time this morning to pray, I “hit a wall”. Has this ever happened to you? You want to have a moment with God and then you either procrastinate long enough that it just doesn’t happen, you get easily distracted and thus “opt out” early, or you experience a “faith crisis” where your level of belief just doesn’t quite match up with your level of conviction that God is actually there. If you simply can’t relate to any of this, please call me immediately because I need intervention and I think you can help! ;)

If ever I struggle with the “does God exist?” question, the thought is usually quickly diffused when I think about the odds that He couldn’t exist! That’s a much larger discussion but I’m convinced that He is there. Convinced that there is a “master plan”; that there is order in the world because of divine intervention; and that it actually takes more faith to believe that God doesn’t exist. Did you know that the odds of this whole thing we call “life” could exist without divine intervention (a Master Creator) are about 10 to the 60th power! That’s the number 10 with 60 zeros following it! Mind blown… (www.icr.org/article/mathematical-impossibility-evolution) Now, this doesn’t mean I understand it all. Nor does it mean that I don’t’ wrestle with all sorts of spiritual questions, but I do choose to simply believe.  

The danger I think we all face is when we, through our western, upper-middle class, technologically advanced, media saturated, well-educated, self-sustaining, independent, proud American culture begin to lump God in with other (manmade) mythological creatures such as Unicorns, Superman and a Genie in a Bottle. It’s easy to do right? I mean, God is this ethereal vapor in space somewhere and we are tangible humans who want to identify with him in a physical way. So, we want to imagine him to be as special, graceful and majestic as a Unicorn. We want Him to be as strong, powerful and invincible as Superman and we want him to answer every request exactly as we demand it and on our timeline, like our own personal Genie in a Bottle. Problem is, that’s our humanness wanting to “package” God in a way that He simply can’t be contained. The good news however, for those of you who choose to believe (or not), is that we can get a picture of the character or God by looking at the “person” of Christ. The Messiah. The one who God chose to put “skin on” for our sake, so that we could have an example of what true “goodness” on earth could look like. Should look like. His example of pure, unconditional love toward God and others should motivate us to do the same. Love God. Love others. It’s a simple formula. You can choose not to believe however it’s hard to argue with the values and principles Christ lived by and hard to ignore the benefits of a life intent on love as a primary motivator for all we do. So, live but don’t forget to humble yourself first to the One who gave you life and then love like it matters.  

Verses to Consider:

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” - Colossians 2:9-10 (NIV)

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. - John 1:1 (NIV)

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14 (NIV)

Let’s go get it!