Does God Fit in YOUR Box?
Today Joey (10) came home from school, and he wanted to talk to me about the difference between the TULIP and Free Grace view of God (They’re studying the Great Awakening.) I had no clue what he was talking about, but he explained in simple terms the TULIP version is God choosing man and the other is man choosing God. (Now a friend told me the term Free Grace wasn’t the right one to use since TULIP and free grace don’t contradict each other, so I’ll find out tomorrow what Joey really means.)
I did a little research and found this website which broke it down pretty succinctly. I know which column I fall into, but this blog post is not about doctrine. It’s about how we try to put God into a box. How we try to wrap our human, infallible minds around God so that everything makes sense to us. Whose to say either of these doctrines are correct. I tend to believe neither of them are and both of them are.
I love the way my pastor likens our relationship to God to his relationship with his dog, Frank. My pastor says there’s a lot of things Frank, his dog, understands. He understands “out side”, “eat”, and “go potty.” But there are just some things Frank doesn’t get. Like when company comes over, and he is over looked. Or when they come home, and don’t greet him like they usually do. Frank can’t comprehend a lot of things because Frank is not human, he’s a dog.
We’re like dogs to God. There’s a lot of things we understand, but there are so many more things we don’t. And I don’t think we can understand the things of God because we’re not God. So it really irks me when people think they can put God in a box. When they say this is right and you’re wrong. When they think if they say a prayer, spin around three times, and knock on wood, God will do their bidding.
God is bigger than that. God is outside our realm of human comprehension. God is so much more than I can even imagine, so much bigger than I could dream. He’s God. Creator of the universe, and the creator of the universe doesn’t fit in a box, big or small! So why even try to stuff him in there!
