The Paradox

We as humanity seems to be so bent of creating a God we can get our minds and hearts around. On a daily basis, recognized or not, we are striving to create a definition, of image of God based on our experience. Often this leads to the creation of a God which has glimpses of reality, portions of a dream, and hopes for our desires. Not all of this is bad, yet there is one major problem, God is not ours to define.

I am coming to believe that God is so far beyond my human ability to define. Sure I can offer some understandings, and hope to reason some good arguments for who I see God to be. However, they all fall short, and are limited by my understanding. Enter the paradox. My vocation, and life design is that of a pastor. Compliments to the institutional church and all, but this call and vocation is so much more than a denomination or structure. Yet not matter what the context of living out this vocation, I am left with a challenge. Generating an image or definition of God is a fairly challenging endeavor, and often leads to a corruption of understanding. Yet, I am called to help others understand who God is and what to make of God in their lives.

My understanding of God is so limited, yet I find myself, say on a blog, explaining how I understand God. This by default creates a definition. Confused yet, I know I am. That is how paradox works. So I am called by God to point people to God, and equip them for their journey. In the process of doing this I am generating some parameters of who God is. Yet, God is not created in our image.

So what are we to do? How about we all engage the journey laid before us. So often we accept the story being given to us by the church, and by the religious institution. Let's all agree to engage our brains, hearts, souls and strength to strive after the God who created us. May we stop creating a God in our image, and discover the God who created the great mystery which is humanity. May we learn to embrace the paradox.