Be bold about God

IF we believe that God is the supreme being and the source

of all good things in life, why don’t we talk a lot about him,

especially in the public fora where most of the people are?

            It would seem that speaking about God is restricted to

some places only, like in a church or in some so-called ‘holy’ places,

but not in the market place, nor in offices and in the discussions of

socio-economic and political issues where, in fact, God is most needed

for our guidance and enlightenment.

            Of course, many would say that talking about God would be

awkward in our mundane affairs. He will have, as they say, his own

time and place. In the meantime, we can just focus on our temporal

affairs and set aside God for a while.

            This is a classic example of a reasoning that stems from

an incoherently Christian life. It is as if God has no place or hardly

has any relevance in our temporal affairs. He would just be

disturbance in our exchanges, an elephant in the room.

            We need to correct and overcome this mindset. If there is

anything that is most important and indispensable in our affairs, no

matter how mundane they may be, it is, of course, God. We get nowhere

when we are not with God. Worse, we can deceive ourselves that we are

getting on with life just with our own powers, without God.

            The plain truth is we are nothing without God. God can

never be absent in our life since he is our Creator, and as such he is

the giver, keeper, guide and end of our very existence. He can never

be absent in our life. Ignoring him would just put us in some bubble,

detached from a basic reality about ourselves.

            We have to learn how to relate things to God and to see

how God, in fact, is most relevant and indispensable in everything we

get involved in. That’s the problem and the challenge. Many of us do

not know how to relate everything to God.

            That’s why we need to be bold in talking about God.

Remember St. Paul saying, “Preach the word. Be prepared in season and

out of season. Reprove, rebuke and encourage with every form of

patient instruction. For the time will come when men will not tolerate

sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around

themselves teachers to suit their own desires...” (1 Tim 4,2-3)

            If at the moment, we do not know how to relate things to

God, like our work which can be technical or theoretical or practical,

then we should face the challenge of studying the connection between

God and our work, and how our work can, in fact, be a good vehicle to

get in touch and to keep an intimate relation with God. Our work

should not be a hindrance to that relationship.

            Some people would say or complain that God is so

mysterious, so supernatural, so above their head that it is useless to

be talking about God or relating things to God. Well, the first part

of the argument is correct, but the conclusion is wrong.

            The mysteriousness of God should not be deterrent in our

effort to know more about him and about how he is relevant to

everything in our life. If we are humble enough, which is arguably a

big assumption, we would be prodded, not deterred from knowing him

more and how we can relate everything to him.

            The very least thing we can do in this regard is always to

put ourselves in the presence of God no matter how mundane a task is

or a circumstance we may be in. We can offer everything to him, thank

him for all the good things that are there. And from there, for sure

all sorts of helpful considerations can come.