Pastor's Blog: Hurting God
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You can tell an election is ratcheting up when candidates start hurling invectives at one another. That’s nothing new. Politicians have known for years that the best way to raise your own profile is by lowering your opponent’s.
I usually don’t wade into such waters for obvious reasons. Someone told me a long time ago that in every election or on any referendum, 40% of the voting public will automatically land on either side so that the result will always hinge over who convinces the remaining 20%. Therefore, taking a stand on any matter will immediately upset a significant number of people.
But I had to break my rule with a recent comment by a well-known politician that his opponent, if elected, would “hurt God.”
As you would expect, the responses came quickly. Some rushed to God’s defense, as if God needs protection. Others expressed shock that anyone would have ever said such a thing. And, predictably, others have done their best to use the remark to their political advantage.
My first response was a mixture of the first two. However, after mulling things over, I started thinking about how the truth of the matter is that at times we’re all guilty in this respect. Since none of us is perfectly obedient, there are times when we all “miss the mark,” which is the word picture for sin most often used in the New Testament, and “come short of the glory of God.” Nothing grieves God more than to see us fail to live not just up to His expectations but, more importantly, into them. Our recognition of this fatal flaw on our parts frees us from the illusion of our meritorious character and positions us to receive God’s “amazing grace.” Anything less presumes upon divine grace and dilutes its power to change us for the better.
God’s election of us in Jesus Christ is a wondrous gift because God did so not because of who we are, but in spite of who we are. He sees our every imperfection and casts His vote of confidence upon us in Christ anyway. When others turn against us, He will always be for us. How did John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, put it? “God and one person are always in the majority.” If we could just keep that promise in mind, we might then make sure that we would always strive to please Him in everything we say and do.
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).