Don't Play God

“When we turn to the Lord we get closer to the Lord. It doesn’t mean we’ve given up or given in. It means we won’t play God,” wrote Fr. Alfonse in his blog.

This friend of mine encourages us to trust God more than our own understanding, our own resources, our own desires and expectations. He tells us not to give up on our countercultural principles and not to give into the pressures and intimidation of our misguided society. We are to keep trying, keep doing steadily what we believe is the will of God without thinking we can fix the world’s aches on our own power.

Most importantly, we are not God. We may suffer from “theomania, the illusion that we can be the scriptwriter in the drama of our lives,” as defined by M. Scott Peck. This only brings us anger, depression and fear when things don’t go our way.

If we’re not trying to be God, we don’t have to think up the solution for everything that happens around us. He will supply the needs of all of us. Yes, he will use us in many ways whether we are willing or not to be used for his purposes. But that’s okay, because, often unknown to us, he uses other people to provide what we need.

The closer we get to the Lord the more we see our world from his eternal viewpoint. Today is a tiny blip on the timeline of eternity. Even so we are important enough to be loved and cared for by God who concerns himself with our problems. He wants us to draw near to his heart so he can love us and guide us.

Do you recall what terrible situation you were panicking over 5 or 10 years ago? If you do remember, how does it affect your life today? Did you think then that you would be doing what you are doing now?

Five or ten years from now will the urgent concern you lament over today matter? Perhaps so, perhaps not. Asking these questions helps us calm our anxieties and look at our situations in the long-term lens of eternity. It helps us prioritize our worries. Eliminate those that are irritating now but not lasting in negative consequences. We’ll forgive, get over them and move on.

What are the constant, stable, unchanging truths we can rely on? God loves us. He is merciful and always there for us. He longs to guide us toward his perfect will no matter how far we wander off his perfect path for us.

God lets us be ourselves and loves us anyway. Can we let God be God and love him no matter what?