More than power

In the Clearing continues to be one of the best blogs out there for encouraging Christians to keep the gospel in our hearts and our eyes on the cross:

Everybody wants a god they can work with, don't you think? Assisted-living, you might call it. A god that is big enough to solve our problems, and forgiving enough to leave us alone about our sins. Even in OT days, some of Israel's neighborhood pagans would ask the God of Israel for help, simply because he seemed to be the strongest one around. Everybody needs a strong god tucked away in an easy-to-reach pocket. Powerful, but never pushy. Strong, but willing to fade into the wallpaper as soon as the need-of-the-moment is met.

The thing is, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about a strong god, not exactly. It's not about an easy-access power-source, able to help us over whatever obstacle presents itself. It's about a god who made himself weak, who made himself nothing, and who, in so doing at a point in time in history past, received the terrible justice we ourselves deserved.

Amen.