The What and the Who

or, Passionate Creator

More on Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.

A job and a passion. Big difference. Tell someone with a job to stop what he’s doing, he’d be glad and relieved. But tell someone with a passion to stop what he’s doing, he’d look at you as if you came from another planet. Why? Because a job is what you do, but a passion is who you are.

The mundane job-vacation never-ending cycle just seems to be at odds with the human soul – it doesn’t fill it full. The drastic contrast between the longing for weekends and the dread for weekdays somehow embitters the soul, and many succumb to the force and become callous to life: It’s just the way it is

But one of the most beautiful and awesome moments in life is when that integration between who you are and what you do takes place. It’s like, you’ve finally become a whole person, a complete and entire being. The concept of work and vacation disappears, and you’d rather be working than sitting still. In fact, you can’t sit still anymore!

The question is, why is it so?

I believe that there’s a source to this phenomenon – it’s because we’re created in the image of One who’s an integrated Being.

You see, I absolutely love Romans 1:20, especially as someone who loves science! It says that as we look at the things that are seen, the creation of the world, as we understand the things that are made, we can see the invisible – we can see God. The question is, why is that?

The reason why we can see and understand God from the things that He makes, is because God puts Himself in the things that He does. Creation is not a job, it’s who He is. Salvation is not a job, it’s who He is. His character is everywhere; it’s revealed in all the things that He does (e.g., creation) and in the way that He does things (e.g., the way creation is). His character is in the fabric of things that He creates, interwoven with the way nature works.

In fact, this reaches its ultimate trueness in the Sabbath, the crowning jewel of creation. It’s no longer just an aspect of His character being reflected in created objects and beings, it’s straight up, full-blown God Himself in the fabric of time. He inserts Himself into the Sabbath, that mankind will not only look at a reflection of His character through creation, man would look at God Himself in His fullness! In Sabbath, we behold God as He truly is. Crazy!

There is no separation between who God is and what He does. God is fully integrated; He’s a passionate God.

In finding a passion, we are brought closer to God. When we experience that integration between the what and the who, we get a taste of what God experiences when He works. Our experience mirrors His and we are fulfilling what we are made to be – God’s image.

P.S. I feel like there’s so much more unearthed treasures to this …

P.P.S. This also makes clear to me why it is that “Every act of life is a revelation of character” (Education, p. 61). It’s because we’re God’s image…

It’s Time

The wooden board was shaking, but strangely you were able to sleep. In a distance, you could half-hear rumbles and grumbles, but your tiredness was more overwhelming than the noise, so you opted to just stay under the blanket. A crescendo of a certain thumping sound happened next, and here was your wake-up call,

“What are you doing here, you sleeper? Get up, and cry out to your God, so we don’t die!”

Your sleepiness vanished instantly when you saw the gravity of the situation. It looked like the wind was going to break the ship! You witnessed the terror on the face of men who would soon face death. The waves towered over the sails, angry thunders roared.

The thought dawned on you. Could this be…your fault?

You, who had been running away.

Someone wanted to cast lots. Maybe they would find the answer that way.

For a while you had been sleeping. People were dying, and somehow you slept. For a while you had been running away from destiny.

But now, the question is raised again, who will do the work? Who will finish the work?

The lot has been cast, and it falls on you.

It’s time to plunge deep into the water.

Delicate Power

The phrase ‘delicate power’ might as well be an oxymoron. Humanity only knows of a certain kind of power; one that is closely associated with force, one that accomplishes a specific function and has the ability to override the hindering factors. The threatening nature of power is what makes it, well, powerful, and this model is what we generally follow when we try to create circumstances that would garner power to ourselves against others.

Yet, when we look at nature, we find another model of power that is complete, harmonious, and considerate. Nature models a type of power that can co-exist with delicate things and delicate beings, and this is what convinces me that God is such a brilliant, ingenious, out-of-this-world, mind-blowing engineer.

If you have any bit of interest in the marine life, you know that the moon practically governs this underwater universe that covers more than 70% of the surface of the earth. Its cycle directly influences the tidal forces of seas and oceans, dictating the rhythm of life of billions and trillions of living creatures. When you and I go to sleep at night, these creatures wake up and with the currents in the depths of the water, travel upward to search for food, mate, and live, and a whole bio-dynamics take place in pitch darkness. Many of these night creatures are the transparent ones, oddly shaped, electrified, and bioluminescent; they’re very delicate creatures.

At night, life is busy underwater, the forces at work are strong, yet you and I don’t feel anything or know anything about it. Most days I look at the moon and think, “Oh, that’s nice.” I think of it no more than an accessory for the homogenously dark sky, and everyday it appears in a slightly different shape. Couples stare at full moons or stroll underneath its light, thinking of it as no more than a prop to enhance romantic moods. But this seemingly harmless, innocuous circle in the sky IS the ‘light that rules the night.’

Think of gravity and how it works. This force that keeps us from getting dispersed into space, is so delicate that it took mankind a while to ‘discover’ it. I mean, it’s always been there. Yet it’s so subtly intervolved with our moment by moment experience that most times we don’t even think about it. Yes, we see its evidence, that when we jump we always come back down. But we don’t find ourselves struggling to pick our foot up like it’s being glued to the ground. Nor do we get zapped back to the surface of the earth when we jump like what happens to opposing magnetic poles. Our vertical movements are, on a day to day basis, free.

But this same force governs celestial bodies and their movements. It keeps the earth in its orbit, and it keeps the moon around too. Powerful, but very delicate.

And then you read, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Rom 1:20. The parallel is marvelous…