GOD DOES NOT NEED US, BUT WE DO
by: Bro. Malloy Cabahug
Christianity is not about tradition. It is not about rituals and ceremonies. It is not all about singing and dancing. It is not all about following the Ten Commandments. It is not all about doing good works and giving to charities. It is not a religion.
Being religious is performing works with the end in mind of pleasing God. Practices in a traditional church like offering flowers to an icon, which they think is a representation of a god. Some even pray by repeated chants on specified times of the day. All these works are futile, since the God we serve does not need any of these.
What then God needs? He just wants our heart. So if we really want to serve Him, we should be motivated by the thought that we are the one who needs Him.
From the time of the fall of man, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the world has been cursed. We died and were separated from God.
From simple living, the world has evolved to become so complex. Since, then so many things have been created by man to make its task easier, but still those gadgets have provided them nowhere, but a more complex living. It has become so because all these things are not what we really need.
We need God.
As Paul addressed a very profound presentation of the God he serves, we may also learn who He is, as well as why we need a God.
His audience then were not too different with the people of this generation, you and me. The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers were representation of the post-modern paradigm. Similar to their philosophy, happiness can be achieved by self-discipline and moderate living.
Other religious Athenians and foreigners present at the time of Paul’s exhortation at Areopagus were also present everywhere today. We all encounter them every day.
Paul said that the God he served is...
…A GOD WHO IS NOT OF THIS WORLD, BUT HE IS EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD AND MORE…(Acts 17:24-25)
God is the creator of the heaven and earth and He cannot be reduced to something that needs a temple for a dwelling. As created everything that we see, and everything that we have, how can he be in need?
If we can still feel our pulse, then thank Him for the life that we have. He is the author of our life.
…A GOD WHO IS SOVEREIGN, THE AUTHOR OF EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH…(Acts 17:26-27)
From one man, Adam to several nations thereafter, he authored all of these. Boundaries of nations, time and season, he set them all.
Ecclesiastes 3 aptly describes how the sovereignty of God has ordered all things in the world we live in. Having known this truth, shall we continue with our self-made happiness in this post modern philosophy?
…A GOD WHO IS ALIVE, WHOM WE SHOULD EEK AND WORSHIP THAT WE WILL LIVE…(Acts 17:28-29)
He can see us. He is not made of precious stone, metal or wood. He is alive. He breathed life to us.
As we seek and worship Him, he will bless us in return. Let us seek and worship him through prayer and devotional, giving our tithes and offerings, sharing the word, and living a life beyond reproach. All these things, done wholeheartedly will be rewarded by Him in due time as we are serving a God who is alive.
The grand plan of the Lord continues until the second coming of the Jesus as the righteous Judge. That date He has already fixed, yet no one exactly knows when. He only knows that time.
As we wait that time, let us strive to continue to live a righteous life. For those are still living in sin, this the high time to reflect and on our sinfulness and repent. Ask God for forgiveness and make right the way you live.
As a message to everyone, believer or not, God does not need us or our offering of material things or service. He needs our heart’s allegiance to Him only.
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