7 Aug 2010
Give up helping.. its not working
“Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.”
That is currently my favourite line from a U2 song.
Its from ‘Stand up Comedy’ off the album ‘No line on the horizon’.
What I love about the lyric is how clearly it speaks to the part of me that wants to ‘help’ God.
I have been interested in the correlation between the books of Eccelsiastes and 1 Corinthians. It seems to me that Paul must have been studying the work of Solomon as he wrestled with how to give the Corinthians feedback.
Ecclesiastes teaches us that we shouldn’t trust our view, but learn to harmonise with God. Paul writes in 1 Cor 8:1-3:
We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.
The message puts it like this:
We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.
Too often I can come from a place where I believe I am seeing all there is to see, and from that perspective God seems to need my help a fair bit.
This approach is also why so many relationships hit the rocks. The more people trust their view of themselves and others, the more they are inclined to want to get people to think like them.
So much of the conflict I have experienced in my life has not come from anybody’s ill will but simply a lack of awareness on my part, their part or (usually) both parts.
Romans 10:17 says:
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
When I first read that verse I imagined I had to read all of Christ’s words to understand faith. While that is not a bad idea, its not what the verse is saying. The Greek word for ‘word’ is Rhema, which simply put means ‘God’s specific word for the moment”.
Faith comes from being open to what Jesus has for me in this moment and every moment.
It turns out God does not need my help, I need his.
Rather than trusting my view of things, I need to remember that perhaps I need to be open to Him and His view.
It’s time to “Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady”, and I, for one, am glad of it!
There is a general consensis that christians must go overseas and travel to all parts of the world to get closer to God but forget about their own backyards here in Australia. They become too absorbed in other peoples worlds that they forget their own world and the people who care about them the most. Like helping God out across the road like a little old lady what they are doing is just that forgetting about their childhood and where they grew up and thinking that money will change the world. God is the only being that can do that, not us but through us with the right balance of where we grew up, our family life and how we relate to others in all facets of life including God. Not by spending loads of money going overseas thinking the world will change and leaving our own backyards looking decrepid.
Thankyou
Praise God…
Marcus Abetz
August 8th, 2010 at 8:30 pmpermalink
I was chating to Steve L today and found out your role has changed in FUsion and you are having some time off.
I was wondering how you are? Are you going ok?
Are you guys comming over to Melb. If you need a place to stay, our place is avalable. Might have to negoteate dates but you know you guys are welcome to use upsairs. Let us know.
We had Chris Brundys 50th here on Sat night. was a great night.
OK bed time. early night tonight!!
Warmly
Love Andy
Andrew Teekens
August 8th, 2010 at 10:37 pmpermalink