The "Everything" of God

Everything. Everyone. All flows from His Grace.  Everything reflects His love. Every. Thing.

How does that impact us, we humans on this earth? What does that even mean? I’ve been doing some reading and some serious thinking about our exclusiveness, our rush to judge, our need to reject, to curate our reality to fit into our particular outlook of life. And here are some of my thoughts.

When we take the time to think about the inclusiveness of God, and how we - as human beings - usually tend toward the opposite - toward being exclusive, it is rather sobering, the truth that bubbles up. I would propose that the downfall of our world is that we include little, and exclude most.

But God isn’t like that. Since He created all things, the all is included. The all must remain. Nothing can be removed, or disparaged or marginalized.

If we believe that God is God; that He is the Creator of earth, sky, universe, life…, if we believe that all - ALL - flows from Him, then to what do we attribute our propensity, yes, actually - our need, to include only what we like or approve of, and exclude everything else? Why have we created a reality in which we decide who or what should stay in our mental and physical space, and what must be excluded?  Why do we make our reality so narrow, so limited, so without imagination?

If we look carefully at history, at current events, at our social institutions, at our financial ones- virtually all things that man has touched over the ages, we see a complex pattern of sharp edges that cut right from wrong, good from bad, the acceptable and the rejected.  There has always been a human need to create boundaries, to circumscribe a space that dictates who belongs, who is powerful and beautiful - and who is not.

It only takes a few moments of really looking around us and our spaces to see those boundaries. At first blush, they seem invisible, these walls, fences and categories. But when looked for through the lens of the realization of our reflexive need to parse out, to divide, to exclude, to discriminate - it is a dark, harsh, cold reality. It is a reality without grace. Without love.

It is not my task today to say why we do such things to ourselves, to others; the “why” of our need to exclude and divide is the stuff of philosophy and sociology and psychology, and religion (sadly). These are topics that rise up and away from the quiet observations I intend for this space.  But I will take a few moments to light up this darkly shadowed place in our hearts - and make no mistake, we all have that dark corner in our hearts that treasures the divide created by man over the ages. Sadly, it is a default of human nature to do so - but I would propose such was never the intent of God.

When I look at all the ways in which we separate, divide, rationalize and discriminate, it is telling to see that regardless of what it is we are defining as good or bad, right or wrong - we usually put ourselves in the “good” category, the “right” category. We know the right people; we are living the right lifestyle; we are worshiping the right God in the right way - and invariably, we believe we are right - and everyone else is wrong.  This delusion is at the root of so much discord and strife; and when it is not resolved, I believe it is also the root of anger, hatred, and bitterness, leading to the deep divisions that crop up among ourselves, in our world, over and over and over again.

I will risk the wrath or ridicule of some to make this simple statement: God created all things (whether you believe it happened in the blink of 6 days, or over the course of 6 billion years, it doesn’t really matter. God doesn’t exist in time, but is over and above time.) The crux of the matter is that God is the Creator, in whatever way He chose to create. And that He continues to create.

And if we believe God is a good God, then His creation is good, and nothing that He made is bad or defective or “not good enough”. And if God made everything good, then there is no true, faith-based reason to determine that something is bad, another thing is defective, another person is not “good enough”.

If we choose to believe that God not only created it all, but declared it good (as stated in Genesis), then perhaps we need to redefine our reality, shedding what we’ve always thought was “right” and “good”. Perhaps it is time to “cleanse the lens” as it were, and throw away our pre-conceived notions of what is acceptable. Perhaps it is time for a heart revolution, a time to decide that no thing and no one is to be excluded, but rather, viewed with an eye and a heart toward what is it that is “good” and “right” and “acceptable” in any situation. Perhaps it is time to see the world as God sees it. Everything is good. All is filled with His grace and His love.

To come to a place where we see this, believe this, will not be easy, and we shouldn’t embark on this journey unless we are serious about changing who we are, and how we see God’s world. We may get lost on this journey, we may get stuck on the road. But I think it is more than worth the risk, this coming face to face with the “everything” of God, the all-inclusive grace of God. His boundless love.

It may just save us from ourselves.