"It is healthy to face the pain in
our souls, to feel bad when others violate our dignity, to admit to ourselves
how desperately we long to feel loved and valued and accepted as we are. But, in
the middle of all this, we need to remember that the point of Christianity is
not us, but the God who cares for us.
Our hunger does not obligate God.
He is not a waiter who, at the snap of our fingers, runs out of heaven’s kitchen
loaded down with trays of food to fill our empty stomachs. With his blood Christ
purchased a people for God and made us priests to serve him (Rev. 5:9-10). We
exist for him, not the other way around.
But bowing before God, living for
his pleasure rather than for ours, does not reduce us to slaves whose personal
feelings do not matter. God cares about our hurts. He wants us to enjoy our new
identity as unique, forgiven, valuable men and women with something important to
contribute. How we feel, how we’ve been treated, what we do, why we do it –
everything about our lives is important. We are valuable players in the cosmic
drama he directs, and we are not wrong to be concerned with how we’re getting
on.
But God matters more. He
invites us to enter into relationship with him on his terms. He invites us to
join him in achieving his great purpose: the overthrowing of evil and the
bringing together of all things in Christ. He invites us, in short, to find
him. And he lets us know that in the process of finding him, we’ll find
ourselves."
