Just a short follow up to the last post which looked at the concept of God being a “no show” at our corporate gatherings and is He really the one to blame for lack of “presence”.
I have to at least offer the last remaining paragraphs I stumbled across by Tozer on this subject.
“The notion that there is a God but that He is comfortably far away is not embodied in the doctrinal statement of any Christian church. Anyone who dared admit that he held such a creed would be considered a heretic and avoided by respectable religious people; but our actions, and especially our spontaneous utterance, reveal our true beliefs better than any conventional creed can do, and if we are to judge by these then I think it can hardly be denied that the average Christian thinks of God as being at a safe distance looking the other way.
One advantage gained from thinking of God as being absent is that we may assume that He is pleased with whatever we may be trying to do, as long as it’s not downright wicked. There would seem to be no other way to account for the vast amount of religious nonsense being carried on these days in the name of the Lord. Ambitious persons burned up with desire to promote the kingdom hatch religious schemes so moronic as to be altogether beyond credibility, and which would never be believed by serious minded persons if they were not put on display in every city, town and hamlet throughout the country.
Since Protestants have no pope to keep them in line and since God is too far away to be consulted, the only limit to our modern religious folly is the amount the people will stand; and present indications are they will stand plenty and pay for it too.“
Has God become nothing more than an icon in the church much like the Virgin Mary but without the plaster-of-paris or glow in the dark plastic? Has He been placed into a category with Elvis, (the dead Elvis) who “is” to the adoring follower whatever he or she wants Elvis to be? They don’t actually need Elvis to get along in life they only require the thought or memory of Elvis, the one that satisfies their spiritual and emotional needs. To be honest if Elvis were still alive I can’t see him trying to pull off the sequined, bellbottom, thirty pound sparkle cape look at seventy three expecting to maintain the god-like status he enjoys today.
I’ve always loved the conversation between the two thieves on the cross either side of Christ. One wanders down a path of revelation which leads to salvation, the other? Listen to the words of the one.
“Do you not fear God?”
“This man is innocent, he has done nothing to deserve this”.
“We are guilty and deserve everything we are about to get”.
“Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom”.
Then Jesus:
“Surely this day, you will be with me in paradise”.
Simple and easy to remember. Have you ever noticed that once a person “gets saved” there’s a tendency to become arrogant and self righteous taking on the blood of Christ as some kind of award we’ve attained on our own and from there we can get along just fine without God? Do we tend to see Christ through the eyes of the thief on the other cross, seeing him as nothing more than the someone who might just be able to “get us off this damn cross” so we can get back to life as we know and want it? Most often people are invited to Jesus, not the Jesus on the cross oh no, they’re invited to the Jesus just before and just after the cross stuff. It doesn’t include this, “I’ve been crucified with Christ” stuff.
We’ve been saved by The entrance, The door, The gate, The Way, through which we have access and fellowship with God. There’s one, just One. There’s no other. The Presence of God hasn’t been provided any other way but by the blood and body of Christ sacrificed on the cross and demonstrated for us in this simple conversation between Jesus and a thief.
