Gary N. McCluskey
Living in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona for 41 years, I can see why some people worshiped the sun and had a “Sun God.” Let’s face it, we do have a little bit of sun worship in the sun soaked West. Instead of praising the sun in temples, we do it on beaches, around pools, on ball fields, and golf courses.
One of the problems with a sun god is you need other gods to fill in the rest of the world. A god for rain, a god of harvest, a god of healing, and so on are required. In Athens the Greeks once had a statue for an unknown god, apparently, just in case they missed one. Paul addressed the Athenians (Acts 17:16-34) saying he knew who that god was. And, paraphrasing Paul, he proclaimed there was one God, and, without mentioning Jesus by name, said God was revealed through Jesus.
At all times it is good to have one God, and especially, to have the God of Jesus. Imagine a pantheon of gods! Think of how problematic family relations can be as we have to relate to one family member one way and another family member in a different manner. Then there are the times we must deal with them all together with all their various personalities, quirks, and gifts.
Imagine in a time like ours if we had to relate to various gods. There would be the god of healing, then there would be the god of peace among people. A god of work or the economy would be helpful. For a while we may have even had or wished for a god of toilet paper. Now it seems, we could use a god of disinfectant spray. Seriously, there would be need for several gods to deal with our pandemic, the economy, and racial injustice.
Yet you and I take our monotheism…..belief in one God only….for granted and don’t really ponder it much. Having one god, as revealed in Jesus, means we have a God not only of all, but for all. A God for all means not only for all people, but for all areas of life. This one God permeates life and is in every nook and cranny of our life and of the world.
This means God is not confined to church, nor to those aspects of our life we associate with the Christian faith and with our own personal faith. God is in the boardroom, God is in politics, God is in our earning and use of money, God is in all those areas too often deemed “secular.” If God was not in these places, there would be a vacuum created, and into that vacuum would come other gods to take the place of the God of Jesus. There would be a god of business, a god of our politics, and a god of personal finance.
If God can reside in these otherwise ungodly places, our faith needs involvement in these places. It needs very direct connection and application especially to those segments of life we too often see as apart from God and faith. Having one God, the God of Jesus Christ means we are called to follow Jesus wherever we go, in whatever we do, and in all areas of life and the world.
One God, three persons; one life, one faith; one world. None of it without God. None of it not in need of the faith of those who follow the God of Jesus Christ.