Mutual Back-Scratching
Dear Friends,
“You scratch my back, I scratch your back.” Or, perhaps, in this holiday season, we might say, “I put the sun cream on your back, you put it on mine.” The reality is, an enormous amount of life operates this way: at work, between neighbours, among friends, in the family, even at church. Life is full of these little ‘trades’, and they are necessary. After all, we are not independent beings, and cannot get by entirely on our own.
The problems really begins, though, when we treat God the same way. We imagine that, if only we are good enough, we will get happily married. If only we read our Bibles and pray every day, we’ll live long and not get cancer until we’re ninety. If only we’re honest at work, we won’t lose our jobs like others do. If only we say our prayers, our kids will grow up to be fine Christians. God scratches our backs, we scratch his.
But what if God doesn’t need anything from us? What if God isn’t dependent on us for anything? What if he doesn’t need our help with anything? I say ‘what if’, but this really is the God of the Bible, as the apostle Paul informed the Athenians: “he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25, NIV). We need God, but God doesn’t need us. So, we can’t barter with him. That’s the religion of pagans. Our God is a God of sovereign grace, who gives us everything we need and who needs nothing from us.
(I am grateful to D.A. Carson’s The God Who is There for most of this material).
Chris Hobbs,
Vicar.