Monday, July 8, 2013
347 - Bargaining in Good Faith
Spirituality Column #347
July 9, 2013
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
You can make a deal with the devil, but can you make a deal with God?
We like to think so, but really we can’t. When we pray to God for help in our efforts to glorify Him, He hears and he cares. But He’s also already given us Christ. And that deal, the most important God-glorifying deal of all time, is signed, sealed and delivered, un-bargained for by humans.
Front to back in the Bible we see that God is all about His glory. Satan, conversely, is all about robbing God’s glory. To that end, Satan is happy to hear our pleas for personal primacy. He’s always there hoping to intercept the call when we proposition God to bring us worldly success, ease life’s problems, or heal our human pains. He wants our focus anywhere but on God.
Satan, we notice, bargains successfully with Eve in the Garden but unsuccessfully with Jesus in the wilderness. Adam abdicated his duties to God either by not properly educating Eve about God’s instructions or by standing idly by – or not being there at all – when Eve was tempted. Either way, humanity compromised God’s glory and the result was a fallen world. How different it was that Jesus responded to Satan’s temptations with scripture and faith. God’s glory was restored; the world would be saved.
It’s interesting that nobody in the Bible really bargains with God except Satan, who is trying to rob God of His glory. The story of Job is a great example. But consider Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, the Prophets, Joseph, Mary – none of them approached God with a “deal.” God used each of them for His own glory, on His own terms. The teachable point is that their faith, trust, and obedience glorified God.
Jesus doesn’t bargain either. The disciples were recruited, not interviewed. Zacchaeus offers reparations to acknowledge God’s glory, not to bargain for Jesus’ favor. When curious but proud Nicodemus flatters Jesus, Jesus responds not with flattery-in-return but with the truth of God’s glory. The good thief glorifies God by identifying Christ on the cross. Paul doesn’t bargain with Christ; He recognizes God’s glory and obeys.
The deal is, we follow Christ and He leads. God is in control, grace is His gift, and our faith seals His covenant. It’s not a negotiated bargain.
We can talk to God in the faithful language of God’s glory, or deal with the devil for our own worldly gain. But we must understand the value of one and the cost of the other.
Either way, we’ll get more than we bargained for.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) suggests Satan’s biggest lie is in encouraging us to believe we are in control, not God.
July 9, 2013
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
Bargaining in Good Faith
By Bob WaltersYou can make a deal with the devil, but can you make a deal with God?
We like to think so, but really we can’t. When we pray to God for help in our efforts to glorify Him, He hears and he cares. But He’s also already given us Christ. And that deal, the most important God-glorifying deal of all time, is signed, sealed and delivered, un-bargained for by humans.
Front to back in the Bible we see that God is all about His glory. Satan, conversely, is all about robbing God’s glory. To that end, Satan is happy to hear our pleas for personal primacy. He’s always there hoping to intercept the call when we proposition God to bring us worldly success, ease life’s problems, or heal our human pains. He wants our focus anywhere but on God.
Satan, we notice, bargains successfully with Eve in the Garden but unsuccessfully with Jesus in the wilderness. Adam abdicated his duties to God either by not properly educating Eve about God’s instructions or by standing idly by – or not being there at all – when Eve was tempted. Either way, humanity compromised God’s glory and the result was a fallen world. How different it was that Jesus responded to Satan’s temptations with scripture and faith. God’s glory was restored; the world would be saved.
It’s interesting that nobody in the Bible really bargains with God except Satan, who is trying to rob God of His glory. The story of Job is a great example. But consider Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, the Prophets, Joseph, Mary – none of them approached God with a “deal.” God used each of them for His own glory, on His own terms. The teachable point is that their faith, trust, and obedience glorified God.
Jesus doesn’t bargain either. The disciples were recruited, not interviewed. Zacchaeus offers reparations to acknowledge God’s glory, not to bargain for Jesus’ favor. When curious but proud Nicodemus flatters Jesus, Jesus responds not with flattery-in-return but with the truth of God’s glory. The good thief glorifies God by identifying Christ on the cross. Paul doesn’t bargain with Christ; He recognizes God’s glory and obeys.
The deal is, we follow Christ and He leads. God is in control, grace is His gift, and our faith seals His covenant. It’s not a negotiated bargain.
We can talk to God in the faithful language of God’s glory, or deal with the devil for our own worldly gain. But we must understand the value of one and the cost of the other.
Either way, we’ll get more than we bargained for.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) suggests Satan’s biggest lie is in encouraging us to believe we are in control, not God.
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