Oz, Zeus & an Ego-less God?
Who has the biggest ego, God or humans?
It seems that some folks project a huge ego on the Great I-AM. The only problem with this image is it is a human ego and not a loving, healthy, and holy ego. We treat the Great I-AM like the Wizard of Oz or Zeus instead of something beyond our comprehension in terms of ego.
We hover in fear of our childhood images of the Oz watching us from behind the large emerald-colored curtain or we fear being destroyed by bolts of lightening by an angry Zeus who resides at the top of Mt. Olympus.
How often are the images of Zeus and the Oz projected onto the God who claims to be Love?
Some folks await for their Zeus to destroy everything they don’t like or that offends their image of Zeus or the Great Oz.
E.G.O. = Edging. God. Out.
How often does my ego attempt to edge God out? My need to be punished and condemned, is that from God or self?
When I read scripture I don’t find a God who is attached to Self in the same sense of humans. I find Jesus, who having the very nature of God empties himself and becomes a servant. This God of Love is not the God that the Hebrews expected and it isn’t the God who Paul met on his journey to Damascus. It is not the God I encountered on my journey through my desert.
I expected the lightening,
I expected the ground to quake,
I anticipated destruction
And I was offered grace
And life
And mercy
And love.
And Love began to heal my broken self.
My ego’s need to be punished and imprisoned for my transgressions is shattered by Love who truly possesses all Power.
Plato said, "Access to power must be confined to men who are not in love with it." Perhaps that is what makes the Great I-Am so powerful; God, who, doesn’t seem to be in love with his power, but empties himself of the power and takes on the nature of a servant.
My ego finds it is difficult to allow God to kneel at my feet with a towel in his hands. I often want to push that God away, yet that is the ego-less God we find in Jesus.
This challenges my perspective of the God who rules from the emerald curtain awaiting to terrorize those who stumble from his lawinto a God who reaches out to me as I fall;
to a God who runs toward me as I turn toward home;
to Abba who doesn’t await to inflict me with punishment but longs to heal me with love.
And it seems only an ego-less God can be Love.
The all-powerful God who can destroy its creation, doesn’t.
Rather it lays down the ability to destroy and choose to reconcile, heal and restore.
That is the God who is so difficult to comprehend.
That is an ego-less God of Love.
It is the God who drives me to my knees in worship and awe.
8 Comments:
I love that acronym: EGO Edging God Out. Thanks.
I agree with Jon. Also, this article was ever so helpful to me as I've always viewed God as punishing, and it's hard to have a relationship with a god who is always waiting for us to disobey.
Thanks for posting it Rick.
Kathy
it's amazing to allow the God whose voice can shatter the very foundations of our world to whisper w/all the gentleness of a child into our ear & tell us it'll be alright...
i love you...
wow...
That's perfect, Rick! Thanks for putting words to the things my brain is trying to think! Hope you don't mind that I built a link to it.
Thanks bro!
"The all-powerful God who can destroy its creation, doesn’t.
Rather it lays down the ability to destroy and choose to reconcile, heal and restore"
just need some clarification on the words "its" and "it" it struck me as odd that you would use those words, rather than His.
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate your wilingness to share your thoughts.
Jeff, just curious, any reason this stuck out for you? You know, some would wonder why you and I would use "HIS" instead of "HER".
"HIS" it is only a pronoun. I hope God is beyond gender-- more than male or female. :) For example, the Hebrew, Elohim as you probably know is feminine plural and when it comes to the Holy Spirit and Wisdom, the word is often translated "Sophia"-- which is feminine.
For me, I like the image of God as "abba" or "Daddy", but I don't think God is a dude who likes football, Philly Steak & Cheeze sandwhiches, peeing standing-up, and belching. :)
I hope this helps clear-up my post.
Thanks for the question.
Not really sure why it stuck out. just did.
not that I am into slamming folks for their posts, cause honestly, you have a difinitive way of writing. I can always count on comeing here and reading about the love of God.
but...
I have gotten into the habit of refering to God as Him or He. not casue I think He burps or eats cheesesteak...although I am sure He like bbq, but becasue it is how I read it in scripture.
done many word studies and understand the issue with the feminine aspect of some of His names in scripture.
but I have not seen anyone refer to Him as an "it"...just makes this loving god you are describing seem distant and dead and cold.
sometimes my critical reading gets hung up on weird things.
Very sensitive post. And a great view of the God that I spent many religious years being afarid to believe in favor of believing in a God I needed to fear. So glad He has freed me to believe in His majestic grace.
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