Author: kevingdrendel

I am sixtiesh, an English Literature major in college and an attorney by profession. Faith informs my life, and this blog is about my faith journey.

We Believe What We Want to Believe

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I have often thought, and I maintain, that people believe what they want to believe. Naturally, when I found the same said on Seth’s blog, I believed it!

Seriously, though, I do not think I am going out on a limb here. When it comes to belief in God, in particular, it seems people tend to believe what they want to believe. Belief in God revealed in the life and statements of Jesus comes with a price. His words are harsh in some respects; they are unrelenting and uncompromising. It does not take long to see that the Jesus reveals a God who expects something from us.

I think we all have the sense that there really is no middle ground. Either we yield, or there is no place in our crowded hearts for God. We are quintessentially rational creatures. We do not abide paradoxes. We sniff out hypocrisy, sometimes even in ourselves, though that is a tough one. I think we can easily fool ourselves. If there is no place for God in our hearts, we are inclined to believe that God does not exist, or cannot be known. It fits our “worldview” after all.

A worldview is nothing more than how we see the world. It is tough to maintain a view of the world in which God is uncompromising, but in which we want to maintain control at the same time. Those two concepts do not sync together very well.

In the alternative, we also fool ourselves – at least those of us who believe in God: we acquiesce in word, but we fail in deed to live as if God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We do not yield to God’s control. We rationalize. We fail to cede the throne to Him. We are dishonest with God, ourselves and, therefore, the people around us.

Many believers in God may believe because it is convenient to believe. We do not like the idea of life ending at death. We want the comfort of believing that there is a god and, therefore, there is a heaven. We do not, however, want to admit that a God who made us, the universe and everything in it might just want something from us. At least, we do not live as if that were true.

I believe that atheists and agnostics may be more “honest” than many believers in God. They do not concede there is a god or a god that we can know. They do not suffer the hypocrisy in themselves (or other people). No wonder they are quick to see the hypocrisy in others and have no tolerance for it.

Of course, it is all very easy for atheists and agnostics. If there is no god, or no god that can be known, there is no need to live life any other way than how we want to live it. There is no struggle to conform to any standard other than one’s own. There is no competition for the rule of our hearts. Any threat to that self-rule is met with resistance, and there is no reason to hide that reaction. Defense of one’s atheism or agnosticism is paramount, because any suggestion that there is a God, and a God that can be known, is a threat to the integrity of one’s life and an assault on one’s sense of self-control.

In the end, however, belief in the non-existence or the inability to know God may not be a matter of rational thinking. It may be more a matter of protecting one’s own turf: the territory of the heart. We believe what we want to believe to protect the control we want to have. We do not want to concede anything to a God who made us.

God Does Not Fail

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In Matthew, we are told that an angel appeared to Joseph and told him of Mary’s pregnancy and of the significance of the child she carried. Joseph accepted what he was told and followed what the angel told him to do. (Matt. 1:18-24) An angel appeared separately to Mary, and told her of the child she carried and of his significance. She accepted what she was told and went to her relative, Elizabeth, where the child in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist, leapt for joy, confirming what the angel had spoken of her and of Elizabeth. (Luke 1:26-45)

                  “And Mary said:

‘My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation….'”

Luke 1:46-50

Today, let your heart rejoice in the Lord. Worship Him in spirit and truth.

He did not come as people expected. He came in humble conditions. He came for the humble in spirit. He came not to rescue one generation; He came for all generations. He came not to free the Jews from Roman rule; He came to free all mankind and womankind from sin and death. He came not to sit on the throne of Israel; He came to sit on the throne of God in Heaven and to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth for all those who will accept Him and follow Him.

Today is the day we remember what He has done and what God says He will do. We treasure what God has done and look forward expectantly to the fulfillment of His promises. As Mary and Joseph once accepted what they were told and followed expectantly to see the fulfillment of God’s promise, embrace the angel’s statement to Mary: “no word from God will ever fail.” (Luke 1:37)

Merry Christmas!

Good News

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Lobster fisherman

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt. (9:10-13)

A Modern Parable

 

Sometimes We Get What We Want, But Not What We Expect

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I am not drawn to politics. I find it more disillusioning than invigorating. Politics, however, is a mainstay, a byproduct, and, in some ways, the life blood of civilization. We can not escape it though we try.

I think we can safely say that God is neither Republican nor Democrat. I say this at the risk of stating the obvious (and of offending friends on both sides of the aisle). I do not believe, however, that God is uninterested in politics. He is intimately interested in all that we do. The Bible even says that God puts rulers in place.

The Bible also says that God’s ways are not our ways. When Jesus rode through Jerusalem on a donkey, he was celebrated for harkening the ouster of foreign rule and returning self-rule back to Israel. In reality, He came to Jerusalem not to take a throne, but to die at the hands of the ruling authority at the time.

Jesus’ triumphant ride through Jerusalem did not lead to the victory that people expected. God had a different plan, a bigger plan: victory over sin and death by which all of humankind, both the living and the dead, would be offered entrance into the Kingdom of God.

After Jesus’ death, some Jews at the time, particularly the zealots (political idealists?), were embittered by the apparent and utter collapse of all of their hopes and dreams of living free from outside control. Even those closest to Jesus, who walked, ate and slept alongside him, denied they knew him when their expectations seemed dashed.

Whether celebrating the fulfillment of expectations or despairing of dashed expectations, God is in control. He has a plan. If our hope is not in God, Himself, we may find ourselves missing the mark in what we expect and being crushed when our (unwarranted) expectations are not met.

After the last election, many people were celebrating and many were embittered. As I write this in December of 2012, we are purportedly nearing the edge of a “fiscal cliff”. Our hopes and fears are on the line, regardless of which reaction we had to the election.

In Illinois, the Democrats have taken back sizeable majorities in the House and Senate. The public has spoken by giving the Democratic Party a veto proof majority with a Democratic governor.

On the national level, we have a Democratic president without the constraint of future political campaigns, locking horns with entrenched Republicans trying to forestall the fulfillment of his plans. In both cases, we have gotten what we wanted. The people’s’ will has prevailed. It remains to be seen whether we will get what we expect.