"The God who
made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does
not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as
though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life
and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of
mankind to live on all the face of the earth,having determined allotted
periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should
seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he
is actually not far from each one of us, for
'In him we live and move and have our being';
as
even some of your own poets have said,
'For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then
God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold
or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all
people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he
will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of
this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts
17.24-31)
My church is currently planting in an very artsy, liberal, relativistic area where all paths seem to lead to the same god and the only way you could ever be judged by a god is by judging others for their beliefs. All is right; all is fair. But this verse screams to me what man-made theology that is. 'We ought not to think the divine is an image formed by the art and imagination of man.' Therefore, truth must be found outside of ourselves. The whole idea behind a divine being is that although he created man, he is separate from him, distinguished, independent. It would not make sense for man to craft his own ideology about God until that God has revealed himself to humankind.
And that's the beauty of the Scriptures-- the Lord does reveal himself! Our God becomes personal. He allows us to become intimate with him, to know him, to cry out to him like a child to a father. He doesn't keep himself separate from humanity but creates man in his own image, then comes to Earth in human form to minister to, sympathize with, and die for his people.
The God of the universe, coming to Earth to die at the hand of those He created. What humility.
My prayer is for the same humility shown by Jesus on the cross to spread itself over Charlotte like a mist, calmly guiding people to realize that no, the Lord cannot be confined by your imagination, and that is a very good thing. Because no human could ever craft a story as beautiful as His.
Agape,
CC
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