if I were God . . .

If I were God . . .


○ I’d cure world hunger.

○ I’d wipe out disease.

○ I’d eliminate natural catastrophes.

○ I’d make the world an always exciting, always fulfilling, always joyful place.

○ I’d inject a never-ending amount of love into everyone’s hearts and lives.

○ I’d destroy death.

○ I’d make cemeteries into playgrounds.

○ I’d restore all people to their physical prime . . . and then some.

○ I’d enable all people to be themselves and to feel good about it.

○ I’d make my presence much more obvious to everyone.

○ I’d . . .

Okay, first of all, I am only trying to be provocative and to stimulate some thought. I, of course, am not God. Indeed, to attempt to be God would be blasphemy . . . which is something I’d like to avoid. The point of these statements, really, is to consider that, while we might not state it, we often imply that we’d like to take on the role of deity.

When things don’t go the way we’d hoped, when some terrible crime takes place, when darkness seems a more powerful force than light–we wonder why things have to be this way, and we imagine . . . what it would be like if WE were in charge.

But, we must return to our senses, and we must be very, very clear. We lack the power, the wisdom, the knowledge, the care, the EVERYTHING to play God! It is completely absurd to even want to take on such an incomprehensible role. Our frustrations must not be allowed to so take hold of us that they degenerate into insanity!

Let us then be humble and leave the work of deity with the only One fit to carry out such a monumental task and the only One worthy to receive praise for the same. And let us also remember that–when we are thinking clearly, at least–God apparently wants some of the same things we do. After all, if you look at the list above, I think you’ll find that these things are very much in keeping with what God will one day do in this world and for his children. One day, we are told, hunger, disease, catastrophes, and even death will be gone. One day, love and joy will permeate our very existence. One day, the beatific vision will flood our souls and motivate our wills.

Of course that day has not yet arrived. And that’s the point, isn’t it? We have to walk by faith now, taking in the previews of what is yet to come, appreciating what we have, praying and working for more, and believing that God can even now do things that are way beyond all that we ask or think. What’s more we can still hope for the fullness of these things to come, for completeness to show up, for perfection to arrive.

There’s no good reason to want to be God. The thought is crazy! I believe a better approach would be to simply trust him, recognizing that he really does know what he’s up to . . . even when we are clueless. Let God be God. Yeah, I like the sound of that . . . and I think he does too. :-)