All Things Nu

Fear of Submission
(and God)

Am I comfortable not being God … really?

If I were king…

When my history is finally written, I wonder in how many of my days will I have been found living out the lyrics to a Robert Earl Keen song, “If I were King of this ol’ crazy world, I’m tellin’ you there’d be some changes made.”

There’s something deliciously intriguing about playing God. How warm and welcoming it feels to take on the roles of judge and jury. How clearly we believe we can see the motives of others. What objectivity we have in the appraisal of our neighbor’s stumbles or misdeeds. How natural to muse on the Divine intent in the goings on of our world, and critique, “Why?”

As if we could do a better job of running the universe.

We use “playing God” to describe someone whose authority has gone to their head. But that’s not what I mean here. Our attempts at being God are much more subtle and subversive. It is more a matter of how we see ourselves, how we yearn for autonomy, prevalence and self-determination as a matter of identity. This is not an issue only for those who have the wherewithal to move people and property and stocks to suit their desires. It is a universal human issue. Regardless of our standing or status, each of us has our own little world in which we chase after sovereignty. Being God is an issue for every one of us.

Reality Check

In truth, we do a pretty poor job of being God. We’re never as good at it as we think we are. We’re competent as God when we are the ones reading minds or discerning motives. Yet when we are the recipient of someone else’s divinity, we see it for what it really is. You’d think that we’d learn not to keep beating our heads against that wall. Yet the beat goes on.

Why, I wonder? Asking that question draws me back to the garden again, to the half-truth that is the source of it all. Once upon a time, we were effective and productive in our role in God’s kingdom. Then came the half-truth: “If you eat that fruit, you’ll be like God.” True enough, we did gain knowledge of evil. But we weren’t designed for that knowledge; it’s a role that we were never intended to have. Like a cow trying to run in the Derby, That knowledge doesn’t fit us well. God created us so that we wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Ironically, we didn’t need the extra knowledge to be like God. We were already like him, made in his image in fact. God made us to create and build, like him. He made us to manage and steward and to call some things good and other things not as good. But he made us to operate like him within a given role, a certain context.

In our zeal to be the King, we bit off more than we could chew. We took on more responsibility than we were ever designed to have.

We’re not good at being God, because we’re not God.

Identity

The thing we can be good at is submitting. That is to say, we could be if we practiced it more. We were made to submit. We were made to work under God, to be the agents of his sovereignty and providence, the instruments of his grace. We were made to be his proxy in the universe he created. That’s our given role, our certain context.

The belief that submission is something to fear is a lie. Submission is actually quite a privilege and responsibility, when you stop and think about it. If we could submit to our “God-in-proxy” identity, knowing in our hearts that it is honorable, wholesome and right, we would be a lot more fulfilled, content with life. In fact, we would experience real power and influence in our world.

Jesus spoke often on personal achievement through submission (as in Matthew 20.26: “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.”). He also lived it: As God, he submitted to humanity. As the Rabbi, he washed his pupil’s feet. As One of the Trinity who had a say-so in how the world was to be saved, he said, “…not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22.42).

This is not about feigned humility, self-righteous ritual or outward symbolism. This is about genuinely embracing an identity of yielding – of a solid second place. This is about confidence in the absurdity that submission brings us more influence, power and fulfillment.

How this is so is what we’ll talk about in our next post. But first, we need to ask ourselves a question. In fact, we need to dwell on it long and hard, with all the honesty and transparency we can muster. Because until we ask ourselves this question, we’ll never break away from this fear’s effect on our life.

Am I comfortable not being God?

questions.4.consideration

• If you were King of this ol’ crazy world, what kind of changes would you make?
  

• What does “being God” mean to you?

• Can you remember an occasion where someone presumed to know your motives, but they were incorrect?
  

• The bible indicates that we were made in God’s image. How does that strike you: Hard to believe? Encouraging? Explain.

• If we have been made in God’s image, why is the drive to be more than that so strong?

• Are you comfortable not being God?
  

Coming next: Yearning for bankruptcy.