The human heart is always yearning for the invisible God to be made visible. We imagine that God will make more sense and his ways become easier to follow if God would only remove the veil of spiritual mystery and make himself known to our physical receptors.
The experience of humanity facing God in the person of Jesus Christ shows that the God who makes himself plain to see, hear, touch and feel, is in no way easier for us to come to terms with than the God who dwells in unapproachable light.
The further we push the presence of God from our experience, and the more mysterious we make him to be, the easier it is to paint the God of our own projections. In a sense, we can make the rules for a distant, invisible God.
Afraid of change
Putting space between God and our sinful selves allows us to perpetuate lifestyles for which we can blame God when things go wrong, and/or take credit for ourselves when things turn out right. Afraid of change, keeping God in another heavenly realm allows us to excuse our mediocracy and unbelief.
Instead of relishing the divine presence when he descends, the fear of confronting someone who cannot be controlled leads the majority to prefer God to speak plainly to a Moses-type leader and confine himself to a mediated priestly sanctuary rather than walk among the commoners.
The gift of God we often spend our lives asking for, becomes the gift of God we reject.
Our human experience with each other is often not much different. Do we keep the people God has placed in our lives at arm’s length so that we may have an element of control when it comes to who they really are?
A celebrity would no longer be an idol to us if we knew them as a close, personal friend, and someone we see as a sinner might turn out to be a saint if we really knew their story.
Allowing oneself to confront the God of the church can be a very difficult experience. It is a community where many of us first build our perceptions of God, only to have those same perceptions eventually crushed. Reconciling the holy, sanctuary God, with the God who dwells in human flesh, is life’s ultimate stumbling block.
I, myself, have struggled with the human God, as much as the invisible God, maybe even more so. As a result I have distanced myself from both God and his people, when this should never be the case. It is easier to let people live in your unchallenged perceptions, than change your views and be at home in your presence.
How can humanity overcome this great conundrum? How do I give in to the great groan within all creation for God to reveal himself plainly? How can I embrace the human God?
I think of Peter, the rock with which Christ chose to build his church.
A rock that sometimes cracked under pressure. One of the sheep that scattered, yet was chosen to shepherd and feed Christ’s lambs.
Peter was always zealous and willing to defend the sanctity of God and the Messiah he had sent. He leaps out of the pages of the bible as one who will do whatever it takes to dignify the name of God amonghis people. As much as Peter separated himself to the cause of God, his humanity still bound him to the common denominators we all share.
Peter’s revelation of Christ as the Son of the living God, did not mean he would be able to deal with Christ the suffering servant, and could not excuse him from abandoning his master before Death.
As much as Jesus is responsible for more people coming to God than any other, there are nights of offence and perplexity where we join Peter against our wishes and find ourselves in the group that will ‘All fall away because of me this night’ (Matt 26:31).
It was Peter, who, in order to feed the little lambs the bread of Christ, would have to learn to eat at a table spread with reptiles, birds, wild beasts and creeping things.
When we choose to live with the God who remains invisible, mysterious and distant, we silence the yearn within so we can continue to clothe ourselves and walk wherever we want. When we allow ourselves to embrace the human God, we may finally end up being clothed and carried by others, taken to places where we never intended to go.
And that’s OK.
It means we have learnt that God is love. Love breaks boundaries to be near the object of affection. It means we have experienced what it is to have God living inside of us and among us.
The Christ within dethrones the distant imaginary God, and brings us to the Father. The Christ of the church tears down our idols and false images and brings us face to face with the glory of God in each other. The God in flesh draws the hatred of the world and the betrayal of our friends.
Embracing the human God means grinding the idols we have sculpted to powder. Embracing the human God means losing theological control.Embracing the human God means loving the church.Embracing the human God means loving one another.
Let’s unwrap the gift of God. Embrace the Human God..
Joshua Robbie is currently serving the Lord under Pastors Ronnie and Shirley Naidoo of KZN Celebration Centre in Tongaat South Africa. He and His wife Rene’ moved from Australia to South Africa in April 2016. Their desire is to help in whatever way they can so that the church can become all that God has purposed her to be. Josh is a painter by trade and also enjoys sports such as surfing, basketball and boxing. He has also written a book, now available for purchase on Amazon called: “Your Father sees: Living the sermon on the mount”.Josh Robbie previous articles may be viewed http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/josh-robbie.html