The one thing that matters
We live in a world where everything matters and yet nothing seems to. Everything around us points us to their version of the most important thing. ‘Always prioritize this, while always doing that, but never forget this other thing’. As a Christian, all this noise is blurred into the background. All that really matters for us is who God is.
In fact, we can boil down the meaning of the gospel to a simple truth: God is good and and just. Believing this truth is the real, honest struggle with being a Christian. But it’s this core belief that centralizes our relationship with God.
When we don’t believe God is good, things start falling apart internally. We can’t worship a God who we don’t think is good, so we either stop pretending and drift from God completely or we “go through the motions” and never confront our feelings. But we’re hard-wired to worship. And no one worships nothing at all. When we don’t worship God, we just find something else to direct our worship and admiration towards.
When this happens, we prioritize God less in our life. Why should we learn about or devote too much time towards a God who isn’t good? We may out of habit or obligation read our Bible and check it off our list. But we don’t feel moved by Him. Why should we, when we don’t think He’s good?
It goes without saying that this will eventually compromise our love for Him too. Since we love Him based on our definition of what “good” means, it’s transactional for us. If He doesn’t fill the requirements we’ve set for Him, our love stops all transactions. And if we get to this point, our primary love of God no longer shapes how we love others.
You see, loving God doesn’t mean you only love God and nothing or no one else. On the contrary, our love for God supplies us with love for others. But in order to love others, we have to find love within us from somewhere. And if that place doesn’t come from God, it won’t last. In fact, anyone else you try to source your love from will continually fail you. No one will be able to measure up to your standard of goodness, not even yourself.
What if you did trust that God was good? The only way you could truly do this is by entrusting Him with defining what “good”, “just”, “holy” and all His other qualities mean.
God’s goodness isn’t compromised when He does something we don’t understand.
Sound crazy to believe in a God we can’t fully understand? I know, I get it. But what would sound even crazier is worshipping a God with the same level of knowledge and discernment as you. There wouldn’t be much more of Him to figure out.
This is where rubber meets the road with anyone contemplating whether or not they really want to be a Christian or just do “Christianly things”. This is why no matter how eloquent the Gospel is presented to you, it wouldn’t make sense to you without the Holy Spirit. There’s nothing I nor anyone else could say that would make you satisfied with understanding God’s character. It takes the Holy Spirit to allow you to know and love God.
“So”, you say, “why isn’t He showing me right now?” I would ask you, how do you know He’s not and you’re just not looking for Him? I’m not sure of your unique life position right now and it would be silly of me to presume anything. But I do know that God is always faithful. He is always pursuing you. Whether or not you see Him is up to you. I don’t know what may be holding you back, if anything at all. But we’ve got to slide across the table the thing we’re too scared to lose and seek God for who He says He is. And only then will we be able to see Him across the table, there all along.
Your definition of good doesn’t determine God’s holiness. Just like your lack of seeking God doesn’t change the fact that He’s never stopped pursuing you.
So, the simplicity of the gospel is really that simple. It starts with God. And our view of Him transforms our identity and therefore how we live our lives and treat others. While simple, it’s far from easy to live out. It’s why community is critical, to encourage and challenge us when it gets hard. It’s why going to God daily needs to be our life-line. Because our struggle on earth is very real and legitimate. There’s things we all fight on a daily basis that are sometimes excruciatingly difficult.
But God never changes. He is always there for us. As we get up and fall down again, He waits, longingly to be gracious towards us. I’ll end with one of my favorite verses, Isaiah 30:18:
Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.
