He’s God and I’m Not
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T oday’s culture embraces the deeply held conviction that we are at the center of our worlds. Consequently, you may view yourself as the most important person alive right now. Life may be all about you—although, maybe not voiced so blatantly. Today, self-infatuation and the obsession with image management have reached staggering proportions. Never have so many people taken so many pictures of themselves.
It sounds innocent enough until we face reality. Narcissus and Pandora found their self-centeredness to be enticing but, in the end, destructive. And the seductive whispers of the serpent convinced Eve to trust her self-serving instincts since God couldn’t be trusted. What sounded like a warning tasted like another piece of tantalizing fruit: “You shall become like God.”
From the beginning, people have entertained the idea that God could be displaced. The Liar and Deceiver hatched the plan originally. Now, inside human DNA resides the capacity for the same deception. We think we can take God’s place. We think we can become like God.
I’ve tried it. Have you? Without saying a word, I’ve told God I know what’s best. My actions or lack thereof have signaled, I’ve got this. I’ll call you when I need you, God. Stay right where you are. Don’t move.
What foolishness.
It’s perplexing that God would even need to, but He continually reminds us of His greatness and our smallness. The prophet Isaiah drives home the point we can soon forget:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
God’s thoughts and ways are not merely floating a few feet above our heads. God’s thoughts and ways are light-years apart from ours—a distance like the infinity of deep space.
With the bravado of the wizard hiding behind the curtain in the Land of Oz, we clamor for glory and power and recognition. But God’s glory can’t be stolen. And it’s not meant to be shared. He alone is God.
Yet our God, in His magnificence and glory, has made movement toward you and me through His Son, Jesus. He is affectionately leaning in our direction even now. He loves us. But like you, I must be alert. Otherwise, this simple but profound truth might slip from my awareness: He’s God and I’m not.
