In his book "The Eternal Now," Paul Tillich (I hope Zilhaver reads this) spoke of four ways that human beings attempt to run away from God. Like the fig leaves that Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness, these are four ways that modern man avoids the responsibility of merely standing in God's presence nakedly, aware of our fallenness and our inability to save ourselves.
First, humans often use WORK as a hiding place from God. By focusing on our own competence, discipline, and production, it's easy for us to ignore God's voice revealing our weaknesses, inadequacies, and our need to be utterly dependent on Him.
Second, people avoid God by seeking FUN, or the ABUNDANT LIFE. I see it among both teens and adults today...the thought that seeking pleasurable experiences for "me" is somehow what life is all about (rather than doing the difficult work of becoming godly men and women).
Third, people avoid God by their CYNICISM and DOUBT. They look at the misery, pain, poverty, and death throughout the world...and they look at the hypocrisy among the faithful...and find it easy to believe that a God who would allow this is not a God worth pursuing.
Finally, we avoid God through RELIGION. I'm sure we all see this form in our congregations: people who would rather settle for old duties, superficial relationships, and committees rather than nurturing a vibrant relationship with our Creator. This is probably the worst of the four, because in some ways, it's the most deceptive.
I confess that I fall captive to all of these from time to time. I go through periods where my prayer life and Scripture reading are at a bare minimum, and I try to go through my days on my own steam. Those are the times when all four of these things become crutches, and I probably am much less effective in ministering to the needs of others.
The great thing is, Tillich notes that God can transform ALL of these into positive things IF we live in relationship to Him first. Work can be a fulfillment of our divine calling in the world; fun and the abundant life can give us a foretaste of the fullness of God in Heaven; cynicism and doubt can lead us into the depths of God's love; and religion can be a channel of a relationship that is already there.
What are some of your "fig leaves"? How do you flee from a vibrant relationship with God and try to fill up that emptiness with something else?
5 comments:
Well that pretty much covers it. You named my fig leaves brother!
Great post... it made me want to go and get the book you mentioned.
Chris -
The stuff in my post was out of just one chapter of Tillich's book. It's a pretty dense read, but I thought that chapter was pretty insightful and it convicted me quite a bit.
Cheers.............
Jeff
Jeff--
If I were to be brutally honest in my confession, I would have to mention the fig leaf of egotism--a leaf that I wear all too frequently and that often shields me from the presence of God.
The egotism to which I make reference is not a "look how great I am" kind of egotism. (I pray that I have outgrown such nonsense.) Rather, my egotism often takes the form of an egocentric reliance upon other people's praises and affirmations, other people's responses to my ministry, and other people's opinions about what it is that I have to offer.
I am not suggesting, of course, that words of encouragement and affirmation are a bad thing. We all need those words, and they are often hard to find in the life of ministry. What I am suggesting, however, is that it is possible to rely on such matters in an egotistical and unhealthy way, so that we are more interested in our popularity than a we are on the transforming presence of God.
In one sense, I suppose that this is a variation on Tillich's WORK leaf. But I thought that I would try to articulate it in my own way. I hope that what I've written makes sense.
Eric -
I'm down with every word you wrote, and if I can be so bold, I think others who may read your comments will totally relate.
Confession time: There are some Sundays when I'm doing the sermon, bible lesson, special music, etc.... Occasionally, I will self-conciously assume that my job was "not liked" (as if it's all about me) until I get that first word of praise from someone else.
God deliver me from that horrible emotional response when I'm supposed to be doing it for Your glory!
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