How to pick a god by Dummies Part 1

When I was a little kid I went to visit my mom's uncle with my (even littler) brother. We slept in his son's room since he was away. We had a great time! I most likely enjoyed any time I was not at home. My brother found a test tube with some silver liquid in the bottom. It was crazy stuff, looked like metal but was liquid (did not know it yet). As we played it was getting colder and there seemed to be less and less of it, I told you crazy right? We cracked the test tube and tried to pick it up. It fell in little beads and for some we thought we could, but try as we might we could not pick it up with our hands, just when you thought you had a grip, it reminded you it was a liquid. Mercury. Crazy stuff!

So you want to find a god. This is an excellent thing for one to do, also very important. This is nothing like picking a shirt in a clearance rack or a ripe melon from your local Stuff-Mart. A good god will be served by you, for your benefit for a long time. Some even promise eternity, which means for ever. Here is what we advise, be reminded this list is not exhaustive and I will share why here shortly:

Exhaustive
A good deity is beyond cataloging, i.e there will never be a complete list of his/her attributes. They (the deity) should be infinite, not big, but HUGE! Mystery is good to add in here too. Who wants a deity they can figure out in a week? Get a DVD player, you can know its ins and outs and you can give it your life for a few hundred dollars. A deity needs to be totally incomprehensible though partly comprehensible.

DomainNo one wants some little league local power. That will be like a regional cellphone company, you are in a world of hurt if your car breaks out of state, you have to wait until dark to use the free nighttime minutes. When it comes to deity, you need constant access anywhere. This ensure great reception, when you are in a fix, help is at hand. When you need to say something that can't wait, you can say it. No more waiting until you get back home.

A nerd thinks about the Lord

I fancied that the Lord worked on miniatures of all his creations.  He tested them and made sure all the flagella would work properly, and the tendons and nerves would go through the foramen and fissures.  In my mind He did this just for fun, because His prototype was "very good" (Genesis 1:31).

AW Tozer believes He spoke it all into being.  So His canvas was in His great mind.  His models created at the speed of thought - God's thoughts.  When He said, "Let us make men in our own image," (Genesis 1:26) in the time it took to think it He had fashioned the nervous system that we are still trying to figure out.  He had worked out how potassium would move in and out of the cells, how ATP would be made, what elements would be in the human form, the immune system, the simple wonder of DNA, metabolic pathways, eye sight, and speech - astounding, don't you think?  

It gets better, He only said it once: "Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night," (Genesis 1:14) and there were the sun, moon and stars.  Each with their individual properties, their life spans, their secrets and mystique. Whereas lesser gods speak again and again to keep things moving, the Almighty spoke once and when next He speaks to the lights in the sky again it is to blot out the sun, cast the stars to the earth and roll up the sky like a scroll (Revelation 6:12-14).  He only speaks to change it, because the Word He spoke initially is so mighty, so eternal.  

So He said, "The LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 4: 6-7).  He said, "[I have] plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29: 11). Know that He who said this is faithful, He is Truth and He is Love, and He knows that we are weak and wretched.  That we are dust, doomed to fail.  But He said it all (and more) anyway.  Whenever you doubt Him, when fear overtakes you, think on these things and as long as the sun rises, the moon and stars shine, as long as day gives way to night, be encouraged - His Word is still in effect.  And so is His love for us.

Help my unbelief

I watched a movie called "The Island"; the story of a Russian monk who continuously pranks his fellow monks, breaks rules and is haunted by a sin of his youth for which he constantly prays for forgiveness. He desires to help people, but has some weird ideas of how to do that. I quit the movie when he burned his superior's shoes and started acting too crazy. According to the excerpt, he is lo plagued by the thought that he is a fraud - he is instrumental in some miracles and his prayers for people are answered, but here he is an insolent, chronic jerk!

The world wants to see the perfection of Christ in us. I want the same for myself, but when we fail we are 'hypocrites' for preaching what we cannot do. I speak as a man - I agree. The rub, however is that Christ in us compels the desire for what is good and right in spite of our inability to always deliver. Paul discusses this in Romans chapter 7. The redeemed of the Lord desire to do His will, but we are bound to sin by our flesh. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:11 that the desires of the flesh "wage war"against the desires of the Spirit of the Lord in us. Paul says in Romans 7:24-25 "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" It is difficult to comprehend how God can calls us to be His representatives in the Earth and leaders in His body when He knows full well our short-comings which will hinder the mission. I would not pick me, but He did. I am not a good person! I am lazy and rebellious. I am self centered and petty. I am twisted and callous. He knows my potential for good and evil...yet He still calls me and daily draws me closer to Him. I know my reasonable response - serve Him with all my heart, soul and mind, become a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), I also know (to my severe shame) how often the sacrifice will walk off the altar and off the reservation then come back to its senses and repent only to do it all again and again and again and again. 

As the father in Mark 9:24 said, "I believe Lord, but help my unbelief." I believe that you called me to be your ambassador upon the Earth, a spiritual leader in my home and a leader in your local body, but help my unbelief that You would choose me of all people. I believe, but help my unbelief.

Job satisfaction

I disc-ed a field for Micah one day after work and the sense of accomplishment was quite astounding. I think all paper pushers should have fields or farms or something so we can 'see' what we did...or is it an exercise of faith - coming into a messy desk and leaving a messy desk but knowing that we did something productive?

In all honesty I think I would like to get out of hospitals. Healthcare - yes, maybe but not a hospital. More and more I find that nurses and doctors care about infection control as long as it does not interfere with what they do. And I feel that despite our best efforts all we are is a source of 'corporate sanctioned  interference' that everyone has to pretend to get along with. The sad bit is I play the engaged employee part so well...