Rob Zahn's Blog

A classmate of mine, Jerry, told a story of his little eight year old girl, Zoe. The family was on their way to church one Sunday morning. Their church structure has a bell tower of sorts. On top of that bell tower, is a cross.

Zoe noticed that morning while on the way to church that the cross on the tower gets bigger as you get closer to church. It gets smaller as you move away from it. Then she thought for a moment and said, “It is kind of like God. The closer you are to Him, the bigger He seems. The farther away you are, the smaller he seems.”

I have engaged, both in my own heart as well as with others, in the eternal debate over the act of Salvation. Not that it happens, but how it happens. This is the debate that seminarians salivate over. Is salvation a free gift that happened on the cross? Is it done and over? Once and for all? Complete? OR…do we have to accept this gift? Do we play a role of any kind, including believing (if you can call this an action), in the act of salvation? Do we have to ‘accept’ Jesus as our Savior?

Of course there is a lot at stake in this question, more than most of us can articulate. But what I want to get at are the choices we undoubtedly have in what we do with this salvation whether we choose salvation or not.

We can argue about Free Will all day long, all year long, and yes, even an entire lifetime. However, we do have choices. You can choose to stop reading this article. You can choose what to have for lunch: Mac & Cheese, a Peanut Butter Sandwich, or just buy a Quarter Pounder w/Cheese at the ever appetizing McDonalds (oh, and it is also your choice to whether or not to Super Size it!). We simply experience choices in our lives. When it comes to our experience of God in our lives, we often have choices as well.

Believe it or not, we can choose to read the Bible. We can choose to pray, sing to God, talk about God, ask questions about God. We can choose to put God at the center of our lives. I do not deny that the Holy Spirit can sneak up on us and surprise us. It happens all of the time. However, we also have a choice in how we relate to God. How we live out our faith and how we grow spiritually. Our life with God is a process, a journey, a moving thing.

MARTIN LUTHER

This life, therefore, is not godliness, but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal, but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.

My point is simply this. My point is that Zoe, the eight year old girl in the back of the car is absolutely right. When you are close to God, God seems bigger. You are driving the car. Which direction are you driving, towards the cross or away from it?