Matthew 27:40-42 If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross… He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
As Christ hung naked and dying on the cross, those watching for sport assuaged their own guilt by concluding that if He really was God, He would save himself. Likewise, the chief priests and elders, responsible for his torture and death, mocked him, saying they would convert and follow him if He would just come down. If He really was God, then He would not die like this, right? We cannot believe in a god who would allow himself to be crucified.
I have often heard statements like this. I cannot believe in a God who allows… I cannot believe in a God who says… I have said it myself. I have meant it to insist that God must be what I want him to be. Others will use the argument to object to the very existence of God. What we are really saying when we say this is, God must satisfy my sense of reason and justice or I will reject him.
The chief priests and elders found their logic to be inescapable as well. They absolutely knew that God would not die on a cross. Therefore, Jesus was not the Son of God He claimed to be. It was beyond their sense of reason that He could be God, so they felt comfortable killing him.
They were of course, wrong. Their best thinking put them on the wrong side of history and God. The arrogance of relying on their own logic and reason led them to disastrous choices.
Likewise, my best thinking has led me to destruction. Yet, I still have had the arrogance to insist that God satisfy my sense of logic and justice. If you are God, you will do this for me. This is not fair… If you really love me you will…
Like a petulant child, I go to God and demand that He meet my expectations or I will withhold my faith from him. Can you imagine what it must be like to see me from God’s point of view? Oh, this doesn’t make sense to you? Well, I apologize. Allow me to fix the entire universe so it meets your sense of reason…
It is in my addiction to me, that I demand that God meet my expectations. It is in my self-centered thinking that I insist that God bend to my will. In doing so, I make myself out to be god.
If God is really God though, how can there not be a myriad of things that I do not understand about him? Faith is not bending God to my will. It is bending me to his will even though I do not understand. Faith is taking my eyes off me and focusing on him, no matter what.
The Seeds of the Spirit is a daily blog based on a walk through the New Testament. Written from the perspective of my own addiction, it explores the common defects of our flesh nature and the solution, our spirit life. If you find it helpful, sign up for the blog as a daily email, tell your friends and like/share it on Facebook.