Contemplation is no pain-killer…There is “no such thing” as God because God is neither a “what” nor a “thing” but a pure “Who.”
God is a pure “Who.”
Definition –
who: the person that; whoever.
“who holds the sea, perforce doth hold the land”
But given a capital W, and Who takes on omnipotence, omnipresence. This Who Is everywhere, all the time.
In a world that loves superheroes …
This pure “Who” can accomplish what Marvel, DC, and other universes cannot. It doesn’t have a kryptonite or have to monitor its heart rate for fear of becoming green. This Who is perfectly strong, brave, and present.
But we (Western society and beyond) have missed the Who constantly speaking…
This (USA) is a country whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. You do not find it by traveling but by standing still.
“Be still and know that I am God.”
The rat-race of iPhones, newest Star Wars movies, Disney’s fifteenth theme park, and yes, endless cruise ship buffets has misaligned our hearts. We’ve put the Who in a what, or, a thing thinking it will save us. And it might provide some cushioning to get through this year, 2018. It might sustain us to 2019. It might even reach 2020, but that Who will still be there waiting—knowing us better than anything concocted by human hands. It will be a pure “Who.”
Today is Saturday, January 13, 2018. If I walk away from the computer and take in the quietness of a closet, solitude, if I pray for peace and listen, I guarantee this weekend will be better than one obsessing over the NFL playoffs. Will I do it? I should. It’s much harder to type I will. How many things have I made into gods?
How many things do I, you, we continually buy year-to-year that are gimmicks given by slick salesmen? If it’s new, get it no matter the price it costs you, your family, your world. All the while, the Who Is saying…
What is really new is what was there all the time.
Forget resolutions and words we’ve cast into unimportant usage. Think about this pure “Who.” God Is here, there, everywhere. He wants a relationship, and it’s something He’s always wanted.
If 2018 has started and you’re in hell, seek mercy. God Is mercy.
If news and media outlets have you confused with conflicting viewpoints, step away from it and seek the silence. Seek the place where you can rest in peace because…
When the whole world is in moral confusion, when no one knows any longer what to think, and when, in fact, everybody is running away from the responsibility of thinking, when man makes rational thought about moral issues absurd by exiling himself entirely from realities into the realm of fictions, and when he expends all his efforts in constructing more fictions with which to account for his ethical failures, then it becomes clear that the world cannot be saved from global war and global destruction by the mere efforts and good intentions of peacemakers.
The pure “Who” can do what governments cannot. What humanity cannot and that is…save itself.
God can. God does daily. Maybe in ways not always visible. Love isn’t always something we can hold up and touch. But…
only love-which means humility-can exorcise the fear which is at the root of all war.
We don’t need walls, wordsmiths, or more ammunition. Likewise, we don’t need peace talks and more talks and wishes and good lucks. Fear cannot be what we live by and for. It will (and does) own us then…
Why should I fear anything that cannot rob me of God, and why should I desire anything that cannot give me possession of Him?
God Who Is is a pure “Who,” and He conquers fear, and He loves because He Is Love, and He always will, if you let Him or not.
Brian Tucker
Author