Angels too Close to the Ground

Angels too Close to the Ground September 24, 2017

berea

Saw this picture at the Arts and Crafts Center in Berea. Do you believe in angels? I do. How about do you believe in guardian angels? Certainly, many early Jews did (though not the Sadducees, which may be one reason they were so sad, you see). What they seem to have believed is that there were guardian angels of God’s people as a collective entity– Michael being the chief one responsible and in charge. Mostly, angels in the NT seem to be God’s Western Union or Fedex boys— delivering urgent or important news. But maybe we do have guardian angels as individuals too. In Rev. 2-3 it appears that churches have angels that watch over them, and in 1 Cor. 11 it appears that angels are the guardians of the creation order and making sure things are properly aligned in Christian worship. But back to what that sign says….

It suggests that we can out punt our coverage, to put it in a sports metaphor. It suggests that we can get ahead of ourselves, get ahead of God’s protection, get ahead of God’s plan for us, and when that happens, things go badly wrong. I wonder about that. How big a leash are we on with God? How many mistakes does he allow us to make? You see the thing is— we are not robots. We have a personal relationship with God, the main way God wants to relate to us is in love, and by persuasion, not by using brute force. It’s like our relationship with others we love. When you try and micro-manage them or their lives, things usually don’t work out all that well in the long run. God treats us as his children, but expects us to grow into maturity, and he allows us space to do so, even space to make mistakes, some of them are sins. And yes, sometimes we can get ahead of God’s plan for our lives. Sometimes we need to slow down, and listen, and not drive so fast….. maybe there is something in that warning in that sign.

One more thing— some human created that sign, as it has bad grammar— it should be ‘than’ not ‘then’…..


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