The Competitve God

Ever since the 13th & 14th century philosophers and theologians determined that God was in essence "one of us" in the genus of beings. Man has perceived God as a competitor. Not in the sense that the ancient Greek philosophers did. They thought the gods were exactly like us, cunning, shrewd, immoral, involving themselves and interfering with the plans of the average guy. No, the God we have come to know is pitted against humanity. He imposes His will and we resist, we are reluctant to obey and resentful. This has lead to a state in Christianity, in which we have those who believe God arbitrarily selects those who are "saved" and others that no one is worthy enough and by proclaiming our belief alone we can be covered up and pure as white snow. In either case God is perceived as a combatant. Now after centuries of fighting this fight, the game has come down to this; we won't compete with God. We refuse to allow Him to enter the fray. We have taken our ball and gone home. God is no longer relevant in our lives. The truth be known God did become one of us and it is by Jesus Christ that we become holy. It is by centering Christ in our lives, by subjecting all we do through Him that we are able to journey towards salvation. We are not competitors but heirs to God. We must see Jesus as He is true love and by being Christ to others for "He lives in us" we bring His love to the world. No joy from any worldly thing can compare.