The Christmas story is the incredible announcement that God is in fact deeply concerned and involved in human history. That God was willing to empty himself of his divinity and humbly live with and serve his fallen creatures is the unique beauty of Christianity.
But there are a few different other ways people view God. Some believe there are many gods who share the responsibility of managing the world and it's inhabitants. Others believe that everything is one, so everything is God. You're God, I'm God, the table is God, your cancer is God and the cigarettes that caused your cancer are God too. There's no good or evil because everything is one. Another group of people believe that God created the universe but then became disinterested and hasn't bothered with us since. He's not present, he doesn't care about his creation, he doesn't want a relationship with humanity, and he won't miss us when we finally all nuke each other. This is called Deism. Deism, and any other view of God, makes God distant, uninvolved and unable to sympathize with our tragic state.
Of course, the Bible tells a different story about God. He is creator (Genesis 1:1), he loves us (John 3:16), and he wants a relationship with us (Colossians 1:20). But I think a lot of Christians live like Deists. 2 Timothy 3:5 tells us that some people will have a form of godliness but they will deny God's power. They'll believe in God, but there's no reason to live a godly life since God doesn't care how they live! The result is living for self.
As always, our belief about God is central to how we live our life. If we are Christians living like Deists we may find some of these characteristics in our life.
1. Judgement: A distant God doesn't care about justice, so we take justice into our own hands. We judge the world based on our standards. It's like when someone cuts you off in traffic and there are no cops around to see it, so you find yourself with your high-beams on while kissing bumpers with the offender. When someone sins we don't think God notices, so we become judge, jury and executioner. Someone cheats us, we cheat them back...it's only fair. After all, we have rights...
2. Despair: If God really did create the universe and is no longer active then we literally have no hope beyond this existence. The universe will slowly lose energy, the sun will die, the earth will freeze and all the accomplishments of humanity will be lost in eternal emptiness. What's worse is that for some people there's no hope in this life either. Dreams get dashed, things can fall apart, people get lost or just desert us. Life really isn't fair for the majority of people on the planet. With no God orchestrating a plan of redemption and vindication, and no God who lives and suffers with the oppressed, there's no hope in this life or the next.
3. Functional Saviors: Without an understanding of the real Heaven and Hell we tend to create our own versions along with a savior to keep us from our Hell and get us into our Heaven. All advertising is based on this assumption. "Change your T.V. change your life" - Sharp "Everything you ever dreamed of and more" - Chevrolet. The idea is that your old T.V. is terrible and you're in T.V. Hell. If you get this new T.V. your life will be wonderful and you'll be in T.V. Heaven. Some people look at singleness as a type of Hell and get a boyfriend or girlfriend as their "savior" so they can be in the Heaven of relationship. There's a real Hell and a real savior who can offer us a real Heaven, but we trade all these in for our own versions.
These things and more can characterize the life of a Christian who is actually living like a Deist. The great message of Christmas is that God IS present. God IS interested. God IS working on a plan for our redemption and vindication. Jesus with infinite knowledge of every circumstance will take his seat as judge on the last day. This frees me up from having to work so hard to make sure everything is "fair." I can just trust in Jesus because if anyone is going to judge the world I'm glad it's him. There is hope in this life and in the next. God can fill even our deepest pain with incredible transcendent meaning. AND he has a future for us that won't even compare to our present sufferings (Romans 8:18). Let's examine our lives to see if they represent a life lived in relationship with an ever present God.
God is present and we should live like it's true.
Grace and Peace
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