Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Pointing the finger of God

Thursday, March 22, 2001

Luke 11:14-23
Jesus says, "If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you... He who is not with me is against me."

Famous words from Eldridge Cleaver, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." Doing nothing is definitely doing something. Scientifically, this universal truth is described in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that all systems, if left to themselves, tend to become degraded or disordered. The ultimate result is entropy, total disorganization and undifferentiation.*

Any growth that occurs, whether it be social, physical or psychological is a miracle in the sense that it goes against the grain of this natural law. Jesus puts this in cosmological terms: "this world belongs to the devil, and I've come to drive him out. As he is driven out, God (and his kingdom) will take his place."

Open your eyes and see, Jesus says. First of all, God and Satan are distinct entities, not just human projections. And secondly, Satan's influence is everywhere, so pervasive in fact that it defines physical, social and psychological reality. Jesus brings fire to burn the ice of our complacency, hurls bolts of lightning into our dark ignorance, breaks the bondage we don't even know we're in, points the finger of God at the master jailer himself.

I think Jesus is telling me I don't have to sell my soul to the devil; it already belongs to him. I am trapped in the force of entropy. My life will lose energy, organization, differentiation, direction ... unless/until I let Jesus buy me back and move me into the kingdom of God.

There, in this new holy kingdom where the wolf lies down with the lamb, the Golden Rule is one of the two great "Laws." My enemy is not myself; instead I learn to love myself. And my enemy is not my brother; instead I learn to love my brother. My fingers form fists no longer, nor do they point accusations in any direction whatsoever. They open ... my hands are open and ready to receive, and God's finger does all the walking.

God, show me the beauty of your brave new world. I am a caterpillar wanting to keep my legs; show me what's it like to fly, and see all there is to see from high above with fresh new eyes.

*For some fascinating thoughts on entropy, see The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck, p. 263 ff. and The Genesis Record by Henry Morris, pp. 80-81, 126-127.

Devotions Archive

Pointing the finger of God

Thursday, March 22, 2001