A Balancing Act

By Cal Cook

As we enter week four of our series Windows on the Gospel the image of balancing our faith between extremes is coming clearly into view. Last week as we took a glimpse of Martin Luther, we saw that we too readily rely on our own goodness, the works of our hands to justify us before God. That there is a balance between the works that we do and the Grace that is given us; if we have no works then our faith is dead yet if we have no faith our works are worthless!

As we looked in on Catholicism the balance of revering the Creator of the Universe with the Savior who sticks closer than a friend came into view. Yes ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’ but he is also our God! On Easter Sunday we read of the Apostles in the Upper Room, when Thomas proclaims in John 20:28 "My Lord and my God!" the words may be lost on us in this age yet the duality of roles are still there.

The first in the series had us peek at a mysterious and not well known window (at least here in the U.S.) that gives us the closest view of what Christianity looked like during the middle ages. The Orthodox Church represents aspects of our faith that we don’t like to be reminded of in the west…the mystery of our faith. That in ways we can’t explain we participate with those who’ve gone before us in worship, that we in some cosmic way we join in with the Saints and the Angels as they sing with us: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord! Yes we should desire to know our God and spend time seeking understanding and knowledge of Him…yet in the end He is beyond us! We cannot grasp the Greatness of His Glory.

Too often these balancing acts learn too far one way or another. We focus too much on the mystery and forget that we can have a personal relationship with Him. This friend we have in Jesus becomes too much like us and we in our minds bring Him down to our level…and forget this is the Creator of the Universe. We desire to be like Him and do the things He does…and forget that in the end it is by Grace that we are saved, so that no one can boast!

Often times when others emphasize an aspect of our faith that we don’t it bothers us. The splinter in their eye becomes the focus of our attention instead of the tree trunk in our own. So we point at them and make straw men to show how foolish their emphasis is and how superior our faith is. We forget the command that Jesus told us would let the rest of the world know we are His…Love one another! If we can’t even love our brothers and sisters in Christ how can we love the rest of the world? If in we can’t find it within ourselves to love those who worship and experience God differently than we do…will God be found in us?

This week we focus our attention on what may be the greatest source of our peace and the greatest source of division in Christ…the Sovereignty of God. Just as we can’t fully grasp the exact workings of the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, three distinct yet one. And as we can’t fully grasp the relationship we have with the One who calls us friend and yet spoke us into being. We cannot fully understand exactly what happens when we are saved.

Yes we have what is necessary for our salvation clearly defined in Scripture…yet exactly what is motivating the exchange. Jesus says in John 6:29 “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” So do we believe because we desire to be with God or because He placed that desire in us? Do we repent of our selfish ways because we choose Him or because He chose us? The ends of the fulcrum become more evident when we ask of the ones who don’t choose Him, who don’t believe…what of them? Is the choice to turn away from God ours or is that motivated by Him as well?

God is Sovereign of that we can be sure, scripture is filled with passage after passage declaring the greatness of His power, the wonders of His control…yet to extent does He control? If not even a bird falls from the air without His knowing did He then cause the bird to fall? Maybe you would say, “No God doesn’t cause bad things, He just allows them to happen.” And I would agree, yet others would argue if He knew it was going to happen, and had the power to prevent it from happening and didn’t…isn’t that the same as causing it?

Maybe we are once again trying to understand and define a God who is beyond us; whose ways are higher than our ways and whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts! Maybe we should not worry and try to define things that are outside of our understanding. Maybe we should just bow in wonder of the one who sets on the throne…who tells us in the end all of these things will disappear:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. Revelations 21:3-6