In these days of so much flooding it's reasonable to think of the
song, "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". It occurred to me during dinner
this evening that we are the extension of God. The idea, I must say,
overwhelmed me. Nowhere had I ever heard that before. You and I are
made to be "gods"; "adopted" by the Almighty!! All my life the great
gap between us and God has been emphasized; the "great gulf fixed"
between heaven and earth. Yes, but let us never forget that we were
created in the image.... Furthermore, God himself has bridged that
gap, that abyss, for us. The bridge is named Jesus. Jesus/God has
restored us- has brought us home. He made us originally to be the
extension of himself! It is not his intention to impress us with his
power- his majesty. God only wants us to realize how far we have
fallen. It is this sense of homesickness that helps to keep us from
loving this world too much; and inclines us to remember who our Father
is. Do you think it dishonors God to say we are his "extension"? Is it
dangerous to make so much of man? Is it too easy for man to exalt him-
self at the "expense" of God's holiness?
1 comment:
Right on, Bill. We tend to "de-humanize" God, don't we? We say that God can't be like us, He is Holy, Majestic, High... Those things are true, but only in the context of the relationship He created us to have with Him. We ARE made in His image - and that isn't just some obtuse, intellectual concept, but a down-to-earth real revelation of who we are in Him! God walked in sweet fellowship with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the garden... Let's let that image baptize our minds when we consider our "Holy" God! Here is a neat quote for you: "Among the religions of human history and all their visions of God, what is it about the
Christian vision of God that is distinctive? What sets it apart from other religious visions?
There are at least two facts about the Christian God that are unparalleled: The first is the doctrine
of the Trinity. The second is the humility of God. In no other religion do we have a god who
stoops, a god who comes down to enter into human history in the most inconceivably personal
way. But here in Christianity, we have a God who wants to be united with us and who is
prepared to humble Himself and even to suffer to accomplish such a union. The gods of human imagination are indifferent towards the human race. Towering above us in their glory, they are
distant and unapproachable—preoccupied with themselves and with things far more important
than human existence. These gods exist in eternal separation from us, and whatever interest they
take in human affairs serves their own ends.
The Christian God is the exact opposite. In marked contrast to the gods of human
imagination, the Christian God is not self-centered, not a taker at all, but a giver, and He
thoroughly despises the idea of being untouchable. From the very beginning, from before the
beginning, God is not indifferent towards the human race or indecisive about its future. He has
staggering plans for us. Indeed, the Christian God is preoccupied with us and our welfare, and
determined to bless us with life and fullness and glory. The Christian vision of God is of a God
who is eager to know us, eager to cross the infinite chasm between the Creator and the creature,
and eager to stoop down to us and lift us up so that we can share in everything that He is and has.
Such a vision of God is unique. The human mind would never create a deity of such grace
and humility and other-centeredness. The Christian God is interested in relationship with us, and
not just relationship, but union, and not just union, but such a union that everything He is and
has—all glory and fullness, all joy and beauty and unbridled life—is to be shared with us and to
become as much ours as it is His. The plan from the beginning, in the Christian vision, is that
God would give Himself to us, and nothing less, so that we could be filled to overflowing with
the divine life." (from "Jesus and the Undoing of Adam by Kruger)
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