Is God Proactive or Reactive?
The question came up today in a meeting -- is God proactive or reactive? It came up within a conversation about purpose and vision in relationship to being missional. More specifically, the book we're reading suggests that part of the missional process is discerning where God is at work, and then investing ourselves in that work.
The question was raised about our definition of God. Is God proactive or reactive? My own sense of this is that God is proactive without being determinative. That is, God is out front, inviting us to join in the work of God (often referred to as the kingdom or reign of God). While not all the details are known or fixed, I don't think God is without a plan (vision?). If we go back to Abraham, we see the promise of God revealed. Abraham will be the father of many descendants and through them the nations will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). As Christians we see Jesus as the culmination of that promise -- he is the means by which all nations are to be blessed. While we have a choice as to whether we wish to participate in this process, God will not be deterred in this work.
To see God as reactive is, in my mind, to see God as "Mr. Fix It." We mess things up, so God must continually fix things. Because God has no plan, the response is always ad hoc. This isn't, I don't believe, the biblical message. This doesn't mean that everything is already written (fatalism/predestination) or that the future isn't open, but it does mean that God will continue to pursue this path, inviting us to join along the way.
In thinking about this question, consider this statement from Jurgen Moltmann:
Is this not a missional invitation? God has a future for us, and we're invited to participate. Our first order of business, the reason why we pray, is to discern God's work in our world, and our place in that effort.
The question was raised about our definition of God. Is God proactive or reactive? My own sense of this is that God is proactive without being determinative. That is, God is out front, inviting us to join in the work of God (often referred to as the kingdom or reign of God). While not all the details are known or fixed, I don't think God is without a plan (vision?). If we go back to Abraham, we see the promise of God revealed. Abraham will be the father of many descendants and through them the nations will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). As Christians we see Jesus as the culmination of that promise -- he is the means by which all nations are to be blessed. While we have a choice as to whether we wish to participate in this process, God will not be deterred in this work.
To see God as reactive is, in my mind, to see God as "Mr. Fix It." We mess things up, so God must continually fix things. Because God has no plan, the response is always ad hoc. This isn't, I don't believe, the biblical message. This doesn't mean that everything is already written (fatalism/predestination) or that the future isn't open, but it does mean that God will continue to pursue this path, inviting us to join along the way.
In thinking about this question, consider this statement from Jurgen Moltmann:
If we could ask the people in the Bible how they see the future, what should we hear? Abraham and Sarah would tell us about God's promise, which turned them into asylum-seekers in alien lands. Moses and Miriam would talk about the God of the Exodus, and the vision of the promised land of liberty. Isaiah and Jeremiah would speak about the messiah and the new covenant. John the Baptist and Mary, Peter and Martha would tell about Jesus, and about the kingdom of God which has come so close to us in him. From the beginning to the end, the people of the Bible are people of hope. All of them saw the star of promise in the long night of this worked, and glimpsed the first streaks of the daybreak colours heralding God's new day. They all set out to look for this future of God's, for they all heard the invitation: "come, for all is now ready." (Jurgen Moltmann, Jesus Christ for Today's World, Fortress, 1994, p. 131).
Is this not a missional invitation? God has a future for us, and we're invited to participate. Our first order of business, the reason why we pray, is to discern God's work in our world, and our place in that effort.
Comments
Because the vision is dynamic and deeply affected by our own choices, I wonder if we are not wasting our resources by conceptualizing the process as attempting to discern our "missional calling" based upon the reasons we can intuit as to why God put us in our particular circumstance. More often than not we are where we are because of choices made by people - choices which ran counter to the choices God willed for the decision-makers. If the vision is dynamic, then the roots of our "calling" are not to be found in the process - which is human driven after all - but found in the goal, which is Divinely conceived and nurtured through all of our missteps.
I wonder if it is not more productive to spend time focusing our discernment forward, on how we can contribute to the fruition of the Kingdom in our time and in our community. This too is missional thinking, and I think is more consistent with the reality which exists in the tension between human free will and Divine purposes.
John
I suspect our destination is pretty trivial to him anyway. And if our kind of world really enchants him, imagine how many worlds there may be? How would we act if we realized we might be in a celestial “Stars of the Universe” contest? What if we had otherworldly competition? Is that so wild? Or are we the only ones? No, I’m not drinking…too much. The safe bet seems to me is to be more humble, thankful and stick to following his will personally. Today’s simple sermon about perfection being love and fearlessness explains his will as I see it. It reminded me of the Special Olympics’ motto-
“Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt”.
David Mc
Say, anyone need a new cause?
"Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.."
http://www.specialolympics.org/slideshow_neglect.aspx