We need testing. God tests us. The result will show whether we are choosing the way of awe & worship & obedience, or whether, without being aware of it, we are reducing God to our understanding of him so that we can use him.
Have we slipped into the habit of insisting that God do what we ask or want/need him to do, treating him as an idol designed for our satisfaction? Does God serve us or do we serve God? Do we require a God that we can fully understand & could never control? Is God a mystery of goodness whom we embrace & trust, or is God a formula for getting the most out of life on our terms? The test result will show whether we have been blithely assuming that God is pledged to give us whatever we want whenever we ask.
Have we thought all along that God is there to serve us? The test will tell us. Do we want God in our own image or do we want the God who is beyond us & over us, who we trust will do for us what only God can do in the way that only God can do it-no strings attached...no reservations...no caveats...the whole hog? The test will tell us.
Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way
