I like nuance… a lot… but there are moments
when I wish things were a little clearer.
These two verses from the beginning of Romans, so close in text and yet
juxtaposed against one another, have always bothered me:
Romans
1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his
eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (NIV).
Romans
1:25, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served
created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen” (NIV).
Of course, I understand that there is disparity
between worshiping God in creation and worshiping creation, itself; but
sometimes I think it’s difficult to discern the difference. And I’m not sure it begins and ends in any
kind of literal and definitive sense. I
think, instead, we are prone to worship all kinds of created things, people,
ideas, ideologies, causes, and dreams in
the name of God.
So, while we might have a bonafide case
against someone who builds an altar and offers incense to a statue or a tree or
another human being; I think it’s a lot more difficult to recognize the
idolization in our own lives, the things (and people) who take the place of God
in ways that are so subtle we don’t even identify them. And it just ups the ante when these things
(or people) are legitimately great, so even the church community commends us
for loving them most.
As I’m thinking this through, I’m just
going to put it out there that I’m actually not sure how to work through this
or discern enough to be certain our worship is appropriately placed. That’s pretty hard to admit.
I want to fall back on some things I
believe such as, “all truth is God’s
truth,” and even Scripture that indicates, “whoever is not against you is for you” (see Luke 9:50), but I also
want to be careful not to fall into a pattern of equating good stuff with God’s
grace. I wonder if this is an impossible
balance to strike…
L.
No comments:
Post a Comment