Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Why doesn't God just show up?

Typically we hear one of two answers to the above question: (1) God is so holy and we are so sinful that we would die instantly if he showed up.  (2) God did show up--2000 years ago when he became the man, Jesus, and it is unbelief that keeps us from seeing His divinity.  

Answer (1) implies that God cannot control his power; which has been proven wrong.  The Old Testament records that both Moses and Jacob survived their encounters with God.  Answer (2) is certainly true, but that doesn't satisfy most of us who live so long after Jesus' time on earth.  

And we're often seeking something a bit more precise beneath that question anyway, namely "if God exists, why doesn't he show himself with power and might to prove that he is real?"  

Here are two possible reasons that seem to make sense to me.  

First, God apparently desires to forge relationships with us. That was his original plan in the Garden of Eden. But after Adam's fall, people began to hide from God out of shame (Genesis 3:10).  And if He were to appear with power today we too would likely hide out of fear.  Shame and fear are not exactly positive building blocks for the relationships God is creating.  

Second, God has an agenda to transform humanity.  This work has to take place in our hearts.  Ezekiel 36:26 tells us that He wants to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  Appearing with power doesn't necessarily further God's clear transformational agenda.

What God did do was far more effective for His purposes than just showing up.  By sending His Son Jesus to the cross in an act of love, He removed the barrier of fear and shame between us.  Then Jesus sent His Spirit into the heart of each believer for the transforming work He purposed.  Jesus' work, though less spectacular in one sense, was much more effective for God's purposes--and ironically, far more costly to God--than if he had just shown up with a massive display of power. 

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