The Perfect Fit

On Friday, I talked about how humans are the only creatures who seek God. Throughout human history, we have looked beyond ourselves and felt that there was something more.

However, as I work my way through the book of Genesis, it is clear that we take that need to find God and turn around it all kinds of different ways. It doesn't take long at all to get started. Only three chapters. Creation is finished, God is resting, we are looking for trouble.

Eve stands at the tree talking to the snake (with Adam beside her by the way), and the way the serpent tempts her is very telling. It doesn't start with outright rebellion. In fact, it never really is about rebelling against God. It's about wanting to be like God. It's about wanting to do what we want instead of what someone else says is best for us.

Jump to Genesis 11, and we're at the Tower of Babel. The tower to the heavens. We don't just want to be like God, we want to BE God.

That's the thing. When we take out what truly fills the space designed for God, something takes its place. It has to. So we find a god. A lot of times that god is us. Whatever we want is what is best. We are the final authority. Sometimes it is money, or career, or something more positive like service but it is service to forward our agendas not God's.

None of these things can truly fill that God-space. None of these fill us with peace, meaning, and love, no matter how much we try. But we will keep trying and trying and trying because we can't leave it empty.

It's incredible how hard we can fight against the one thing that will fit perfectly, isn't it? Maybe it's time to stop.

Photo: B Pedretti