March 2008

Sheena and I have been going through a bunch of old boxes.  Almost all of them are full of things we acquired prior to getting married.  Sometimes it’s embarrassing to see what we’ve spent money on.  We can’t help but think of the sizable down payment we’d have on a house had we saved all that money instead.  But at the time one of us just had to have the latest *NSYNC album.

There are, however, a good number of items I’m pleased to have brought into our marriage.  I had great expectations that my wife would be as excited about each item, if not more, as I was.

But not a single one impressed her. 

Actually, for the most part, she’s eager for the day we can get rid of them. 

Now, how many times do we come to God with all these things, this stuff, expecting Him to use them, and be as impressed with them as we are? 

One day Jesus said to a woman frantic to provide stuff for him: “Only one thing is needed.” (For the whole account you can turn to Luke 10:38-42)

When Jesus spoke those words, the one thing needed is nothing that we can make with our hands.  The one thing needed is our attentive heart: our life.  It’s not a meal, an apple computer, or twelve of the hottest tracks of 2000.  These things impress men, but not God.

Are we still trying to offer God the things that matter to us, and expect Him to use them? 

He wants to use us.  Jesus didn’t come to earth to redeem stuff so that the things of this world can be used by God.  He came and redeemed us so that we can be made into the people God wants us to be. 

Perhaps it’s time to take stock once again of all our stuff, especially the things that we’re trying to force fit into God’s plans, maybe then we’ll see there’s a whole lot of stuff we need to get rid of.

I want to be close to God.  I’m sure, at least I hope, I’m not alone in that.  On days when God doesn’t seem so near, building a tower to get closer to him seems like a good idea. 

Sometimes I’m tempted to think that those guys in Genesis 11 had a good idea.  Only I’d build a tower with more noble intentions.  Instead of trying to be famous like God, I’d build my tower so I could poke my head into heaven and have a look around. 

I wonder how many of us are trying to get closer to God through our own efforts of elevation. 

It seems like a good idea, doesn’t it?  After all, where is God?  He’s in heaven right?  Now Heaven, as we all know, is up.  Isn’t it? 

Generally when we read the Bible we find all sorts of verses to support a “God’s up there and were down here” system of things.  So we build towers, climb ladders, tie weather balloons to lawn chairs all to get higher and, therefore, closer to God – at least where God is supposed to be – to the place we understand is his home. 

However, there are also verses that talk about God coming down and walking about the earth.  What if he still does that? We’re often taught that God doesn’t do that anymore, but what certainty do these teachers have?  What if God’s hiding out in some quiet corner of the woods, or the Rocky Mountains, or Coombs, or Central park just enjoying his creation?  We are confident that, at the very least, his Spirit inhabits his people.  God’s Spirit is on the earth. 

So what if God isn’t just up there, but also down here?  And what if we, through all our efforts of trying to get higher and closer to God, find ourselves somewhere in between?  What if we’re missing God because we’re up in a tower out of touch from the dirt he’s walking on while yet not high enough to reach heaven? 

Perhaps I should spend more time looking for God around here, and less time trying to climb my way to heaven.