It may seem an odd thing to say but we do not wish upon God. He is not our wishing well. Rather, we rely upon God. We depend upon Him in faith, as sure footings depend upon rungs of the ladder or as deep canyon rely upon a bridge to traverse. In fact, our lives are contingent solely upon His sustaining grace and the power of His Word, for truly, in Him we live and move and have our being.
A wish is a longing for fulfillment or contentment in circumstances or materials. To wish is to gaze at the future with an eye of discontent at the present. When we wish we are simultaneously indicating that a present predicament of want. We are admitting that we are not content currently but that if our wish be granted then we would be fulfilled. Truly this is a lie.
Conversely, in Christ our wishes our transformed into expectant hope. But this hope is not in the determent of perceived deficiencies in the current climate. Rather, our hope is in the goodness of God, in His steadfast faithfulness and His dependable love. As our hope in God ferments, we are met with fruit in our lives. This fruit is God depositing Himself within us.
All of this, ultimately, comes down to faith. And there can be no grey area, no neutral ground at this point. Either we are trusting in God or we are trusting in something other than God. This trust encompasses everything from fulfillment to security, from love to relationships; not the least of these being the whole ordeal of salvation.
Either we trust that God will be our hope or we do not. Therefore, we do not bring wishes to God; we offer Him no wish. To do so would be a disrespect to who He is and all that He has done. Instead, we come to God in faith and in love, made possible because of Christ and empowered by His Holy Spirit. Let us then think differently as we talk about desire and as we bring theology to bear upon all our lives!
No comments:
Post a Comment