CAN WE LET GO AND LET GOD?

“Wait. There is more. Things down on earth won’t go as we hope. These humans, since they are created in our image and likeness, have free will, and with their freedom they will rebel again Us, against the Cosmos, and even against each other. This separation from Us and from one another will destroy everything. The only way they can be saved is if YOU become one of them to show them the way of life and to teach them how to love.”  “I will gladly do this” the Son responded

“But my Son, there is more. They will not accept You when you go to them. They will reject You. They will turn away from Your way of life. They will ignore Your teachings. Even one of Your closest friends will betray You and another will deny even knowing You. Your own people on earth will hate you, ridicule You, call You evil, spit upon you, whip you, crucify You, and put You to the most miserable death. Only by showing them what a perfect human being is, only by teaching them and revealing to them the true path of divine love, only by experiencing the entire human condition to the point of death, and only by destroying death itself through Your own death, only then will they find a path back to Us.

Only then will they be saved. So, what do you think? Do you accept this gift? ”The Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, let a single tear flow from his eye. The Father then smiled and said, “Let there be light!”

The mystery of creation, of life in this temporal world and of death itself, of things eternal and everlasting, all this mystery is beyond our human understanding. We can use our finite minds to try and comprehend the Infinite, the Eternal One, but no matter how smart we are, no matter how hard we try, and no matter how much we progress as a society, we will always fall short in fully understanding the ways of God. As the Prophet Isaiah declared, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts greater than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The late Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a priest and paleontologist, wrote: “In this Mystery of Life, even if we don’t fully understand it, we can know one thing for sure – God is in control. He created the universe and He sustains the world. No darkness or uncertainty, no death or destruction, no crisis or fear should ever take away this assurance, for it is at the heart of Christian faith.”

Yet do we live each day with the explicit idea that God is actually in control of our lives, our world, our hearts?  I think if we gave every person a chance to respond to that question, the answers might be surprising. God is One. He is not many, nor is He in any way “fractured”  This is reminiscent of the Shema Prayer in Judaism, recited by every Jew, every day:   “She-ma yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad” — “Hear,  O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”  The Lord is one, “…one God and Father of all who is over all, through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:6)  Yet how often do we fragment God in our lives? Paying attention to Him here, ignoring His Word there, applying the way of life He taught sometimes, the rest of the time, calling our own shots?  Have I ever stopped to think “Who actually controls my life?”

Rev. Robert C. Sproul (+2017), American theologian, pastor and Biblical Commentator said in one of his sermons: “We do not segment our lives, giving some to God, some to our business or schooling, while keeping parts to ourselves. The idea is to live all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and for the honor and glory of God. That’s what the Christian life is!”

I have come to term such an arrangement  “fractionalization of faith.”  We give God just a percentage of who we are and what we do, we “fit Him in” when we have time – after parceling out the “big percentages” to family, work, friendships, leisure activities, etc.  It’s as if God has to stand in line waiting for his percentage.  We need to turn things around, to reverse the tone and texture of our lives. We need to “let go and let God.”

If we do this, there is a sense in which we feel we are losing something – surrendering our lives into God’s hands, from which they came in the first place!  We are losing something – the delusion that we control our destiny, that we are in charge, and that God is merely a “consultant.” C. S. Lewis, the pre-eminent British writer, philosopher and Christian believer, explains what we get for letting God control our lives: “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.”  You see, the fractionalization of God means we are holding back from giving our all. We, like the young rich man in the Gospel, have, as Jesus said “one thing you lack.” Jesus tells him go, empty yourself, give it 00all away, make it 100 percent, then come follow me – and you will find yourself!

The Lord does not ask us to become destitute or to give up the responsibilities of life. Neither does he ask us to become hermits or monks and withdraw from the world’s storm and thunder. He but asks that in whatever we do, or say, or think – PUT HIM FIRST. He asks that we reorganize our lives and lifestyles around him – not the other way around. When we organize our living around ourselves, catering to our every whim, achieving genuine happiness will be virtually impossible. This is what Jesus meant when He told the Apostles and disciples: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all else will be given unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

The great theologian, Dr. Karl Barth, echoed Matthew when he pointed out: “How easy it is for us to live for ourselves, as though God was an afterthought. In times of crisis or guilt we readily call upon Him for help. When all is well, we move Him into the background unnoticed, left alone, useless.  And we say we are “religious”?  God save us from religion! What we need is authentic faith – the two can never be confused.”  This is what it means to give God control of our lives – He becomes the center, the explicit reason for our existence, the One whose will and plan for our lives we follow.  In this way, we are actually doing what the theologian Paul Tillich calls an act of faith, “allowing ourselves to be grasped by the only Ultimate Concern in human existence.”   Placing ourselves and our ego at the center of our lives, is to “fly solo”.

There is so much right now that feels out of control in our world and perhaps in our lives. The pandemic, the global protests in the streets precipitated by the brutal murder of an obscure man named George Floyd, the grave state of our economy, the dramatic unemployment rate, the disruption of our children’s education, businesses closing, and a myriad of other troubles. How will we see a return to so-called normal times once again? Let go and let God!  We need to dedicate ourselves today to allowing God to control our individual lives, to give Him 100 percent, to  bracket our voracious egos that seeks to usurp God’s place, to rob Him of the throne of our hearts.

We need to turn religion into a living, active, everyday faith through fidelity to daily prayer, the reading of God’s Word, the study of spiritual books, the reception of the Holy Mysteries, the humble confessing of our sins, and love and service we show others. Let go and let God!  It’s not magic nor does it occur instantaneously – but if we do it, God will make it happen. All we have to do is let Him.  The words of the Christian hymn below can give us hope and settle us deep in our hearts against all odds.

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say “It is well, it is well, with my soul.” Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, — And hath shed His own blood for my souI. It is well. It is well with my soul.”

Let go and let God and all will be well with your soul!

Faithfully in the Lord,
Fr. Dimitrios