OK, maybe hate is a bit strong.
I profoundly dislike starlings…….profoundly.
They are ugly.
Their song is annoying.
They make a mess.
They nest under my chimney cap.
They have invaded my bird feeder to the detriment of the birds that I like.
And to top it off…….they don’t even belong here. They were introduced.
Starlings are the Brussel sprouts of the bird world.
I’m sitting at my breakfast table watching them gorge themselves at my bird feeder.
If I were in charge here…….they’d be gone……poof.
And that is the entire point of this post.
I am not in charge here.
God is God………and I am not.
The guy who created me……..also created the starlings.
This all seems so obvious…….you must wonder why I bothered with it.
The truth is that the failure to recognize this obvious reality is quite possibly the single greatest failure of mankind………and, considering the eclectic list of our failures, that is a bold statement.
Just about everything that we mess up can be tracked back to our failure to subordinate ourselves to our creator and his rules for living. Can you imagine a world where everyone followed the top 12 of God’s rules all day every day?
Love God
Love your neighbor
Have no other gods
No idols
Honor God’s name
Don’t lie
Don’t steal
Don’t murder
Honor your parents
Sex is for husbands and wives
Don’t covet
Rest on Sunday
But we just won’t do that.
Why?
Because we want to be the boss. We want to make the decisions. We want the power.
Because we hate it when God tells us to do something that we don’t want to do.
Because we hate it when God tells us not to do something that we really enjoy……something that we want.
We constantly critique God’s handiwork.
The notion is that we have a better idea…….that we could do a better job of running things. The evidence, of course, says that we are not very good at running the planet. Fact is…..we have poisoned it. But, that doesn’t matter one bit. We want to be in charge……..we want the power.
Don’t think that you are guilty of this? When was the last time that you complained about the weather?
So, instead of subordinating ourselves to God, we try a “workaround”. There are several popular choices:
Deny God…….there is no creator, we are a giant biochemical accident….and we can do whatever we please.
Ignore God…..intellectually we concede that he’s real; but, we just don’t listen to him……..ever.
Put God in a box……we isolate him and let him out for an hour or two on Sunday morning. This feels good…….pious……..and we still get to do as we please for the rest of the week.
Customize God…….we start with God as his Bible describes him……….then we add the traits that we like and we delete the traits that we dislike. We do this over and over until we have a God who conforms to our appetites……..a god who doesn’t interfere with us. We keep him current by adding and deleting traits as the demands of our culture evolve. In essence, we create God in our own image…….or, perhaps, in the image of our culture. But, you have to wonder……..when you do meet the real God…..your creator…….will the God who created you recognize the God that you have created…….or will he say, “I don’t know you……and I haven’t a clue as to who this god of yours is…….leave”.
Which takes me back to the starlings.
I can exercise my prerogative as the ruler of the cosmos and make all of the starlings dissappear……….poof.
Or
I can subordinate myself to my creator……my God. And that includes living with the starlings……..his starlings.
God is God……..and I am not.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Paul talking about Jesus, ESV
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus, talking about subordinating yourself to God, ESV