A Little Less...

More from Donald Miller's Searching For God Knows What.

If you ask me, the way to tell if a person knows God for real, I mean knows the real God, is that they will fear Him. They wouldn't go around making absurd political assertions and drop God's name like an ace card, and they wouldn't be making absurd statements about how God wants you to be rich and how if you send in some money to the ministry God will bless you. And for that matter, they wouldn't be standing on a beach shouting about how they are God, twirling around in the waves.* It seems like, if you really knew the God who understands the physics of our existance, you would operate a little more cautiously, a little more compassionately, a little less like you are the center of the universe."

* Donald refers to Shirley Maclaine doing exactly this as she describes in one of her books.

The primary thing I like about Donald Miller is that he is a thinker and he makes his reader think (I guess that is two things). I love how unconventional he is at arriving at his point. It is refreshing. It is logical.

I want to focus on two ideas that are related. The first is the fear of God; the second is his last sentance above. My frind Chip (who has a blog here) has done a better job of explaining the idea of the fear of God than anyone else. I must say that it has always been a bit of an elusive idea. Fear, in our context, is not a good thing. And God is our friend; he has called me a friend and even a lover, so why should I fear him. Chip explains it like this: It is similar to the way you feel as a little kid when you break something, and you realize that they will be home any minute. You fear the punishment and the soon inevitable facing of whatever you did. You never worry that your parents will not love you or kick you out of the family. That is how Chip describes the fear of God, as a fear that can never be separated from love. That makes sense to me, I guess, but how is that different than conviction? I am getting off track. I think you can tell a person who really fears God from one who is just using Him. I have spoken on here before about how perfect I think C. S. Lewis' portrayal of God as a lion is. How appropriate to select the king of beasts to be the archetype for God. I think we make God into a teddy bear too much. The danger is when we make him the lion but without any love.

The second point is the last line; what a great statement: It seems like, if you really knew the God who understands the physics of our existance, you would operate a little more cautiously, a little more compassionately, a little less like you are the center of the universe. That is the second thing I think you can tell about a person who knows and loves God, that they are a little bit less the center of the universe than others. I like how he says "a little less," because we all know how selfish we are if we are honest. As I was pondering this, I thought that may be the element that one could use to identify Christians...that they are a little less all about themselves. Then I remembered that the Bible says something different, that Christians are known in that they love one another. But how different is that, really? When you love your neighbor, you focus on them more, you serve them, you care for them, you are kind, not because you want something, but just because. I think that is pricisely what Donald is talking about. But, man, is that a lifelong journey or what?

May we learn to fear God more and more everyday. May we never use God as our ace card, to further our own agendas. May we, every single day that we are on this earth, operate a little less like we are the center of the universe.