One afternoon, while attending seminary, I found myself eavesdropping on a conversation between two other students. I cannot tell you much about the topic, but I can tell you one phrase that I heard one of the people say.
It is a saying that I have heard repeatedly within our world, and it is something we must STOP saying and more importantly STOP believing. One student was making a point about God when the other blurted out, “Well, MY GOD doesn’t do that.” That utterance has been burned into my mind because the true ramifications of it being practiced are chilling.
Now, I don’t know about others, but I came to Christ because I needed a savior. In the most basic form, I realized that I was not God and therefore I needed divine guidance in my life to come from a perfect source. Jesus Christ is that perfect guidance, salvation, and restoration for all creation. But the essential quality of this acceptance was the submission to the divinity and authority of Jesus. In other words, God is God and I am not.
If you come to Christ any other way than humbly and repentantly then you are failing to truly seek God. If you come to Christ seeking only affirmation and support for your worldview, two things will happen. Either you will simply mold Jesus into a figment of your preferences and interpretations, or you will reject Jesus outright because his teachings and authority do not fit in your worldview.
For one to say, “My God doesn’t do this or that” takes on a form of arrogance that creates a pitfall for the individual that will destroy their faith ultimately. Even the beginning phrase “My God” is misleading. To describe God in this way is to describe God in an individualistic and possessive framework. You’re not saying “My God” as in reverence and submission, you’re saying “my god” as in ownership and possession. No person, culture, or power on this earth can claim ownership of God, because God transcends all of those petty borders.
My friends, we live in a world of personalized convenience. A world in which we can customize and personalize everything from our phones to our credit cards. We can alter photographs to where they only show what we want people to see, even if they are not the truth. But to try and apply this self-pleasing mantra to God Almighty will only lead to folly. God will not submit himself to our boxes of social or political constraint.
Jesus once told his disciples, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Christ knew that humility and meekness towards God would allow for the true voice of divine authority to ring true and clear.
He praised humility and denounced pride because he knew pride would prevent humanity from truly experiencing God.
Think of it this way. When Jesus preached his message in Judea he was despised and hated by both religious groups of the period within the Jewish faith. The reason the religious leaders despised him was that Christ’s message did not fit into their interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. So, how did they remedy this issue? Did they take a step back and face the possible reality that they could be wrong? Did they earnestly listen to what Jesus was saying and examine their hearts for the truth? Nope, they looked at the Son of God and said, “My god doesn’t do that.” They were staring into the very face of God himself and rejected him because he didn’t fit into their worldview of what God should be.
My friends, we are all going to encounter moments in which Jesus challenges us with his commands and his parables. He will convict us because we are indeed human and flawed, but then he will provide the grace necessary to move through this conviction into restoration and healing as a new creation of God. The goal should not be to conform Christ to ourselves, but ourselves to Christ. By doing so we ensure that we never lose sight of the one true God. We will avoid the risk of abandoning God for an idol of our creation.
It is not “my god” it is Our God and Our God can do anything.
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Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
Cell: 919-935-2513
Email: pastormike@fumcfairfield.org
