Fresh Footprints - In Search Of A Lost GodChikamu

A God of justice, mercy and humility, in making us, also gives us the possibility of rebellion. We may accept or reject his love. Without the choice there can be no truly loving relationship.

Given the fact of our rejection of God’s ways, what might he do? Should he intervene, blast the bad guys, mend the broken, heal the sick with or without our consent? Or should he abandon us to a futile existence in a faulty creation, drop us in our own mess and start again somewhere else?

He does neither. Love constrains God not to wipe out the planet; God loves the people made in his own image, and he will do his best to spare us. Love also will not abandon us to our own destruction. So, what is the alternative, keeping in mind that he will respect our freedom of choice?

God’s brilliant solution to the problem is divine infiltration.

God is remarkably subversive. Hints of his activity are everywhere but grace seldom smacks us in the face. Even when he visits the planet in person he does so subversively. Jesus is born to a young peasant girl in a backwater village far from the centers of power. His arrival is witnessed by a few animals, some rough shepherds, and an overworked inn-keeping staff. Sometime later a few New Age astrologers turn up to give a bit of class to the proceedings, but that’s about it.

What we know of Jesus’ childhood and education is largely deduced from our knowledge of the cultural background of the times. He is not a childhood prodigy nor is he a teenage star. He begins his mission by disappearing into the desert and even when he returns in full charismatic power, he ignores the world leaders and focuses on the poor and needy, upon ordinary people like us. Always he refuses the invitation to lead an insurrection against the Roman overlords. The glory was veiled and only on the briefest of occasions was it visible to the naked eye. That is why Peter writes about the transfiguration of Jesus, ‘We were eyewitnesses to his majesty.’ Just a glimpse, but it was enough.

The Christian faith is not about shining the splendor of heavenly fireworks but about a gracious, loving God who who came to join us in order to win us.