For Reading and Meditation:
Luke 12:13-21
Why is it that so many in our day and age are attracted to the notion of a God who is impersonal? New Age theories seem to be infiltrating all parts of society in almost every country of the world. I think there is a very subtle reason why men and women prefer to think of God as a power rather than as a Person. If God is merely a power, or a formless life-force flowing through the universe, there are no demands - one is not challenged to relate to an energy in the same way that one is challenged to relate to a person. Immediately we believe God is a Person the next question we have to face is: How do I relate to Him? It is the idea of meeting a personal God which causes men and women to tremble. But deep down in every human heart, placed there by the Almighty, is a conviction that a personal God exists. We have all been made in His image and His stamp is upon us whether we like it or not. In reality there are very few atheists; most people believe in some kind of God. Someone has described an atheist as "a theologian with the jitters." A good way of dealing with those jitters is to expunge from the heart the idea that God may be personal and that one might be accountable to Him. Better a life-force or a celestial energy, a power that can be tapped rather than a Person one might some day have to meet. How foolish it all is - settling for short-term comfort but facing eternal loss.
Father, I am saddened when I realize how so many want to run from You when their best interests lie in running to You. I am glad that I have found You, but I long that others might find You too. Draw many to You this very day, dear Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.