AUTHOR: Andy Nuetzel TITLE: God's Life Vs My Life... Fight to the Finish DATE: 7/04/2006 03:15:00 PM ----- BODY:
...ignore the whole "fight to the finish part"... that has nothing to do with this post, I just have a weird way of thinking and sometimes I add things where they don't go, just so that it makes sense to me, even if it doesn't make any sense to anyone else. So I have been thinking the last couple days about personal autonomy and God ordaining of Stuff. I also have been reading Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book, whose goal is to try and teach us how to read the Bible. One of the topics that is in the first couple of chapters is shows us how we use the Bible, God's story, to supplement our lives, spiritually, academically, inspirationally or whatever. He makes the case that all too often we decide that we are the ultimate reality and focus everything around us and not around God, who created us. So I was thinking that the question that I ask myself semi-often may be somewhat flawed. The question that I ask too often is "What is God doing in my life?" The motive behind the question is generally good and valid I believe, however the focus is wrong. The focus in that question tends to be that God is only moving in my life, or otherwise the only meaningful place that God is woring happens to be MY life. When we look at it, and look at the Holy Scriptures it tells us that God is always working. He is also working in everyone else' life and not just Mine. Therefore I proposed a new question. This question is "What am I doing in God's life?" My question about this question is does it really shift the focus from Me and my Life to God and his Life? I initially thought so, and liked this question, however to someone on the outside of my brain, they might not get all the initial connections going on in there. When I thought of this question the presuppositions that were in place where that 1) God is working 2) He invites me to work and I have to decide to join him 3) He desires to use me alongside himself in his work. I came across these presuppostions thru Jesus talking about his Father doing work. Jesus talks about God always doing work, and everything that Jesus does is alongside his father. This is found in John 5:16-30. The proble I run into is, is the phrasing, "What am I doing in God's life?" continue to put the emphasis on me, where it doesn't belong, or on God, where it does belong. With the three presuppositions in place I think that it works, however if one has to explain all those it may loose out on its pithyness or its complete point. So the new question was formed, "Where is God working that he wants me to join Him?" I guess that I would like all of your opinions on the best, most pithy, most complete, most God centered question of the three. - What is God doing in my life? - What am I doing in God's life? - Where is God working that He wants me to join Him? So please vote thru the comments and continue to join God wherever you see him working.
----- -------- Exegesis on Andy: God's Life Vs My Life... Fight to the Finish

Jul 4, 2006

God's Life Vs My Life... Fight to the Finish

...ignore the whole "fight to the finish part"... that has nothing to do with this post, I just have a weird way of thinking and sometimes I add things where they don't go, just so that it makes sense to me, even if it doesn't make any sense to anyone else. So I have been thinking the last couple days about personal autonomy and God ordaining of Stuff. I also have been reading Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book, whose goal is to try and teach us how to read the Bible. One of the topics that is in the first couple of chapters is shows us how we use the Bible, God's story, to supplement our lives, spiritually, academically, inspirationally or whatever. He makes the case that all too often we decide that we are the ultimate reality and focus everything around us and not around God, who created us. So I was thinking that the question that I ask myself semi-often may be somewhat flawed. The question that I ask too often is "What is God doing in my life?" The motive behind the question is generally good and valid I believe, however the focus is wrong. The focus in that question tends to be that God is only moving in my life, or otherwise the only meaningful place that God is woring happens to be MY life. When we look at it, and look at the Holy Scriptures it tells us that God is always working. He is also working in everyone else' life and not just Mine. Therefore I proposed a new question. This question is "What am I doing in God's life?" My question about this question is does it really shift the focus from Me and my Life to God and his Life? I initially thought so, and liked this question, however to someone on the outside of my brain, they might not get all the initial connections going on in there. When I thought of this question the presuppositions that were in place where that 1) God is working 2) He invites me to work and I have to decide to join him 3) He desires to use me alongside himself in his work. I came across these presuppostions thru Jesus talking about his Father doing work. Jesus talks about God always doing work, and everything that Jesus does is alongside his father. This is found in John 5:16-30. The proble I run into is, is the phrasing, "What am I doing in God's life?" continue to put the emphasis on me, where it doesn't belong, or on God, where it does belong. With the three presuppositions in place I think that it works, however if one has to explain all those it may loose out on its pithyness or its complete point. So the new question was formed, "Where is God working that he wants me to join Him?" I guess that I would like all of your opinions on the best, most pithy, most complete, most God centered question of the three. - What is God doing in my life? - What am I doing in God's life? - Where is God working that He wants me to join Him? So please vote thru the comments and continue to join God wherever you see him working.

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