I had killed off God—although not intentionally.
In one of his sermons, Frederick Buechner told of a pre-teen who, in a
fit of anger, secured a gun and shot his father. Although the father didn’t die
immediately, he did soon afterward. When the authorities asked the boy why he
had shot his father, he told them because he could not stand his father. His
father demanded too much of him, so he hated him.
Authorities placed the young boy in jail. Late one night, as the guard
patrolled the corridor, he heard sounds coming from the boy’s cell. He stopped
to listen and heard the boy wailing, “I want my father, I want my father.” But
he couldn’t get him back. He had killed him.
I became a believer at a young age, but when I approached the teenage years,
I felt the same way as the young man. I hated my father’s demands and the rules
he instigated. I never wanted to kill him, but I did express my hatred for him
and Mom often—although under my breath. I chose to rebel…to live like an
unbeliever. And by doing so for many years, I killed off God’s witness through
me.
Atheist Friedrich Nietzsche, in his work, The Gay Science, wrote,
“Have you not heard of the man who lit a lamp on a bright morning and went to
the marketplace crying ceaselessly, ‘I seek God. I seek God’…They laughed, and…the
man sprang into their midst and looked daggers at them. ‘Where is God?’ he
cried. ‘I tell you. We have killed Him, you and I.’”
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God reminds the people why He didn’t kill
them during the wilderness years, even though they were killing God off. God
wanted to preserve His name. Had He eliminated the Israelites because of their
disobedience, the surrounding nations—who worshipped other gods—would have
looked at Israel’s God as a wimp…if they looked to Him at all. A God who wasn’t
able to deliver on His promise to bring His people to the Promised Land.
God is God, so, of course, we can’t kill Him off literally, but we can
practically. When we live in ways that dishonor His name, we kill Him off. His
witness won’t flow through us. When we don’t do the good things we should do, we
kill Him off because His presence doesn’t show forth through our lives and
impact others as it should.
We can easily prevent killing off God by making sure everything we do
and say puts the spotlight on Him—or to use biblical language, brings glory to
His name. When we’re careful of the words we speak, the attitudes we have, and
the actions we take, we let God shine through us.
Asking what Jesus might do in all of our situations helps God live
because Jesus always did the will of His Father. This involves listening to the
still small voice of the Spirit, whom God has given us as a seal that we belong
to Him. Living in a spirit of prayer also keeps God alive. In this way, we’re
continually in tune with Him.
Make up your mind that you’ll live in such a way that you don’t kill off
God.
Prayer: Father, may we let Your light shine brightly through us.
Tweetable: What do your actions say about God?
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