No, the title of this blog does not contain a typo. Originally I was considering formatting the title as a question like I usually do (“Is God on our Side?”), but I thought this title would be a much more interesting and attention-grabbing title!
The message that God is on our side is everywhere. Friends say it to one another as encouragement, pastors declare it in sermons, and popular songs include it in their lyrics. Certainly this is a very encouraging phrase, reminding us of God’s constant watch over us as well as the fact that He will never abandon us. But is this what the phrase implies?
I think often it’s too easy for phrases like this to become mere platitudes, especially after they’ve been repeated so many times that we continue to say them long after we remember what they mean, merely for the short-term emotional impact they have on us. We ought to think more deeply about such phrases in order to better understand the truth behind them, or, in some cases, to discover when they may be too vague or suggest ideas that aren’t entirely accurate. It is in this way that we come to know God better instead of merely shaping Him in our minds into the way we would prefer Him to be.
So, as the title suggests, if you asked me whether God is on our side, I would say no, He is not. The idea for this answer was prompted by a quote from Abraham Lincoln:
“..my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side..”
If God were “on our side”, the implication is that He be aligning Himself with our will, our goals, our desires. But our view of God would be very mistaken if we thought this. The opposite, of course, is true: we are to lay down our own goals and desires, to allow Him to shape them into whatever He wants, and to allow Him to align our will with His. In this way, it is almost as if we cease to have a will of our own and take on His will. How can God be on our side”if we don’t have a “side” at all?
Strictly speaking, to declare that God is on our side is to make ourselves the center around which everything revolves, and to place God in the role of an assistant or accessory who comes alongside us and helps us in the pursuit of our own ends. Needless to say, this is not at all the true nature or our relation to God.
It could be objected that when we say “God is on our side”, we’re merely speaking about the fact that God loves us and has our best interests in mind. It may seem like what I’m saying is unnecessary nitpicking or splitting hairs. But I think it’s important to reflect on these ideas and be aware that how we talk about God may influence how we think about Him. If describing God as being on my side has any chance of contributing to a distorted view of God as anything other than the center around which my life revolves, I would rather avoid saying it entirely. This is especially important in light of some of the movements within christianity that have promised prosperity and answers to prayer for those who have sufficient faith, ideas that focus entirely on the benefits God can provide to the believer.
Of course, I’m not suggesting it’s wrong for anyone ever to say that God is on our side, or that anyone who says so is imagining that God is our servant. As I said in the beginning, I believe it’s important to think through phrases we may use frequently to avoid saying them mechanically, so we can understand their true meaning. Therefore, my main goal is not to discourage people from using this particular phrase, but rather, to use the discussion about this phrase as an opportunity for reflection. Sometimes the precise terminology we use can have a profound impact on the way we think. We would do well always to keep in mind the true relation between God and ourselves, to understand God’s place in the center of our lives and our place in the periphery.
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