In a recent trip I came upon a common slogan in which I now conceed is the theme of man in America. A perversion of our LORD and common outlook by a large portion of claimed believers and non-believers alike.
Let me first say that my apparent judgement of this slogan does not fall upon the bearers of it, but only upon the interpretation of the slogan as I have chosen to translate it; or rather the way I truly believer a large majority in America and other countries might use and interpret such a phrase. In truth, it is the concept and interpretation, not the arrangment of words that I stand up against.
The slogan read, “What does God mean to you?” Innocently enough, this could mean nothing more than “how has your King impacted your daily persuit of holiness” or “what does your relationship with the true God mean to your everyday purpose.” This slogan, where I found it, may just as well have been written with such an interpretation in mind. However, free of context, standing upon it’s own two feet - it seems to say much more. And so we find the concept I stand up against. The concept is this:
That God, in purpose & truth, could and does have an entirely different “meaning” for each and every person, in accordance to their own will upon such a meaning;
OR, to put it differently,
That God, giver of life, shall in some way fullfil the will or expectations of the one who gives Him personal, daily, arbitrary meaning.
WHEN IN FACT, our outlook and slogan should be, in my own view, and what I would reason to say is a scriptural & logically sound view - just the opposite. Instead of questioning what the creator means to the creation (which seems an illogical question in and of itself) - we should daily ask instead “What do WE mean to GOD?” A daily, even moment-by-moment evaluation of such a query should and would in my view provoke the self-surrendering, humble servanthood that is the foundation of our true purpose and meaning to God.
What do we mean to God?
God has chosen, in the first place, to allow us to mean anything. How does an omnipotent, omniscient creator find any need or meaning of any kind from his creation? The answer: because He Himself chooses to need us, chooses to allow us to mean something to him. If such a reality, meditated upon, does not drive from our hearts every ounce of self-service and self-exaltation and pride, then those whom it does not should truly be pitied - for this is the basis of a relationship with an everlasting God - that is, His complete sovereignty, and the wonderous mercy that He would choose to need us - having needed nothing.
“What does God mean to you?” This world will claim a shotgun of answers, ranging from concepts of peace to the magical hand that casts the die of each day.
To ask what you mean to God is to face a stark and logical truth - which is this: We SHOULD mean absolutely nothing.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:50 am
i like this post as it puts many thought provoking ideas into play.i think the answer is obvious. we mean everything to God. our existence other wise is pointless. he wouldn’t have humbled himself into human form and suffered and died and beared our total burden if we didn’t mean absolutely everything. and you’re right. there are such polar opposites to what we mean to God and what we should mean. God doesn’t need our physical presence for his own existence, rather he chose us, he selected us. we however, couldn’t survive much less exist without him. i like this post.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:51 am
Yeah…i don’t know about the “us meaning everything.” I am not sure that we can know that to the extent that we might suppose…for our purpose, our meaning to God is a mystery to a great extent beyond our human understanding and what he chose to reveal to us.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:51 am
well, lets look at it objectively. without God we wouldn’t exist. he created us for a purpose. we may be unaware as to the fullest extent of this purpose, but one thing is certain: we were created, God created us. to put it stupidly…had God some how stumbled across our universe and decided to interact with us, then i could understand your point. if we didn’t mean everything then why are we in existence? to put it another way. the omnicient, omnipotent, and omnipresent creator humbled himself into human form, he became like his own creation, limiting himself in appearance, however not in power or in wisdom. he over came what we might coin as impossible feats, i.e. never sinning so as to be an example to his creation. he gave his life in service to tax collectors and prostitutes and liars and thiefs and murderers. society shuns these people yet they are precious to him. he was beaten and bloodied by man, then hung on a tree to suffer and die. but beyond all that at the last moment, when the weight of the world sins were on him, all of them i might add, he cried out to God asking why he had forsaken him. he endured all this, being born of man, giving his life in service to outcasts, being beaten and mocked, being executed on a tree, and being seperated from God and you ask what we mean to him? if the God of everything gives himself in multiple ways as a living sacrifice so he can draw US to him then how can we mean anything but everything? thats as simple as i can express my thoughts on the subject.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:51 am
I was just trying to take a logical point of view… If we mean “everything” to God…then was God “nothing” before we existed? Clearly the point here was the God chose for us to mean something to him. And his love, mercy, sacrifice, all fit our finite conceptions of “everything” - that is completely and scripturally proved and true…I agree with you completely there.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:52 am
…I realize now in that response, i used the word “before” - - - which is a word that describes time…and God is outside of time.
Try wrapping our brains round’ that…;-)
February 21st, 2007 at 7:52 am
we’re running in circles. i understand God chose for us to mean something to him, i just meant in the context of our existence we mean everything otherwise we wouldn’t exist. to say we can mean anything might be interpreted as meaning very little at times and then very much at other times as the mood of the individual changes. the idea behind what i said was to reinstate what you said about him choosing us. if you realize how much has been done for you by a being beyond our comprehension then how can you be anything but totally humbled? its a puzzler. seems like everytime i realize how high a price i and everyone else was bought at i’m humbled, but when i lose sight of whats important in my day to day, that clarity diminishes and i become a worthless wretch again. the idea behind God being outside of time reinforces the statement that he doesn’t change, but people do. its like you said, we shouldn’t mean a hill of beans in the scheme of things, but because of the love and mercy shown us, to mean anything but everything in the context of our existence would(in my opinion) diminish that great love and mercy shown us. i only meant it to be a humbling outlook. long story short God cares for you or you wouldn’t exist. i dont disagree with what you’ve said, i was just trying to show it from another angle. ^.^)>
February 21st, 2007 at 7:52 am
Yeah, i’m with you. That makes sense…