Two world's: God's and mine.

Rachel posted this on her blog today:

"Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist-no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal. (as quoted in Disappointment with God )

The king clothes himself as a beggar and renounces his throne in order to win her hand. The Incarnation, the life and the death of Jesus, answers once and for all the question, “What is God’s heart toward me?” This is why Paul says in Romans 5, “Look here, at the Cross. Here is the demonstration of God’s heart. At the point of our deepest betrayal, when we had run our farthest from him and gotten so lost in the woods we could never find our way home, God came and died to rescue us.”



I had to read it a few times because it resonated within me. I really like the way this is illustrated. Especially the bit about, "Would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind?"

How many times do we do this with God?
There are so many times we possess a "God world" and then "my world" and the two intersect at church and in prayer times and even then, once you're done, you know you're back in "your world."
It's as though we're scared to actually give up our world, because we would be sad for leaving it. We would be upset for giving up the ability to control the outcome of something, and the ability to control at all. We like our world; cherish it, even, and let God come in just as we want it to.
God's world is invited when we're sad, when we have a decision we need to make, when we want to be angry at someone... Yes, God's the man. It's so easy, then, to say: "God, let your Kingdom come, let your will be done." Especially when we want a certain outcome; because once it happens, we can go back to our world and embrace it with a certain familiarity.

Do we cherish our world too much for God's kingdom to actually come? Are those words empty when it comes to decisions?

Well, if you're not like that, then I'm talking to myself because I cherish my world sometimes. Okay, let's be honest, I embrace my world a lot.

Jesus came to bridge the gap between His world and ours. As if to show us, "I came to this world so you might dwell in mine."

"Of course she would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly?"
...I'm working on that. I want to.