The important question we must raise and wrestle with at this moment is: have we truly been reconciled with God? How dreadful it would be if someone were to die in a state of not yet being reconciled with God, while thinking that they already are. Honestly, some of us have not yet made peace with God. Let us not think that there will still be time later to be reconciled. Instead, we should consider that there may no longer be time later. To delay can mean to refuse; it can also mean to cancel. The God we know is not a God who gives no warning. He issues warnings, but people often refuse to listen.
Around us, many wicked people impose their wills, ideologies, and beliefs, thereby endangering others’ lives. Some people have lost sound reason, even possessing a morality of hatred that is extremely dangerous to communal life. All of this becomes a signal or sign to us of how uncomfortable life on this earth truly is. True life is the life to come, in the new heaven and the new earth. We are preparing ourselves to dwell there. Therefore, let us begin packing to go home. There is no need to wait until old age, for death never recognizes age.
How dreadful to die believing we are known and at peace with God when we are not. Reasoning about God is not the same as experiencing Him.
Therefore, do not merely reason about God, where God is known but not experienced. A God known only through reason is a God of fantasy—a God found in library books or in academic theological journals. Ironically, the casualties are enormous. Many congregations never encounter God because those who preach only reason about God. Christians who have a fantasy-based God do not truly feel or know God’s feelings, but only imagine them. That is a dead god.
Such people tend to blame and mislead others to show that they are the most correct. Usually, such people enjoy debating merely to defend doctrine while exalting themselves.
In contrast, those who are humble and already “filled” do not exalt themselves. Let us not fall into such attitudes, for the temptation is very great. If a theologian falls into this, then the congregation that hears his sermons or reads his writings—whether in books or on social media—will also become “imprisoned” in that atmosphere of a fantasy God. A God of fantasy is a dead and unreal god, so His feelings are not truly felt. They seem to bring God to life in their fantasies, and regard the God they reason about as the true God. With explanations that appear argumentative and systematic, they feel they have found and are dealing with the true God. Yet everything is illusory.
Many theologians and educated people have such a model of God. They may be very skilled at speaking about God, but their manner of life does not radiate the majesty of God’s person. From God’s statements, what often appears instead is the absence of that majestic character. We must not be contaminated—leavened by such yeast and spirit. We must learn to possess a gentle spirit, for whatever we do is actually related to God’s feelings. Someone who has truly been reconciled with God surely understands God’s feelings, so God guards everything they do.
In truth, we often still act arbitrarily. We hurt the Lord’s feelings, Lord’s no guilt. Especially if someone is a pastor skilled in preaching or debating, they may feel they are right. We also often feel as though we live in a neutral territory that belongs to no one, whereas in fact there is a host, a Master of the house, whose feelings we must guard.
If someone truly wants to be reconciled with God, then the principle of his life is: “My only concern is You; I live to serve Your feelings.” Sadly, many people define reconciliation with God only in terms of a belief and agreement, namely, believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior and then feeling they are already in reconciliation with God. Yet reconciliation or peace is a concrete relationship restored according to God’s original design.