There are many gods: gods of fame, gods of fortune, gods of war, gods of love. There are football gods - there must be, I heard commentators refer to them and players point up to them. There are gods of vengeance and gods of... you get the point.
So the day after we celebrate the birth of Christ I'm led to ask a question: WHY THIS GOD?
It is my nature to question. My DNA leads me to wonder (as I wander). I am skeptical and sometimes critical. My four-year-old why? has grown into middle-age with me.
On the point of this question however, I am not left with only speculation. There are a multitude of things I doubt in this life - most have to do with me - but on this one, I'm settled.
WHY THIS GOD?
If you'll allow, I will answer another question first: Why not the other gods?
First, they are little gods; and thus, the little g in gods. Secondly, they are limited gods. Thirdly, they are not God. As a matter of fact, they are not even gods, except that we give them the power to be.
But here is the most important reason; and the one that is particularly relevant and beautiful during this season. Gods - as in little-g gods (unfortunately the word begins this sentence and is therefore, captialized) - require from us. They require either power from us so they can be gods, or they require performance from us, that we might please them. Every fake god of our making fits into the former category, and every known god of religion, with the exception of ONE, fits into the latter.
So... WHY THIS GOD?
...and he will be called Immanuel...
-- Isaiah 7:14
It is more than a nickname; it's his nature. And his mission. Immanuel (Emmanuel in the language of the New Testament) simply and powerfully means: GOD WITH US.
This God doesn't need anything from us to be (or be more) God. He IS. This God doesn't even say to us, "Jump through this hoop, and this one, and this one... to please me enough to give you some sort of hope." This God is Immanuel, the God who came to us. And that is the difference.
I'm not sure if you caught it. God came to us. He didn't ask us to climb to heaven via some moral rope ladder to prove ourselves worthy. Little-g gods demand we ascend to prove ourselves. This God condescended (and condescends) because, as stained as we are, he knows our worth.
WHY THIS GOD? Because ...the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost - Luke 19:10. Immanuel came to us with a mission. He came to us with open arms and a smile.
HE... CAME... TO... US.
And that is WHY THIS GOD?
For now...
D
