As a I was reading through an excerpt of Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy, I came across this in chapter 6:
Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light. So, were every man on earth to become atheist, it could not affect God in any way. He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections; to doubt Him takes nothing away.
A. W. Tozer
After reading this, I felt like many of us, Christians and non-Christians try to bring God down to a more earthly level, like for instance… Santa? Maybe you’ve heard of that guy.
Santa is portrayed in movies a lot as almost disappearing – they have to save Christmas! Can’t have this holiday without Santa bringing gifts (the horror – Jesus is the best gift 😭). Such catastrophes are implied by the unbelief of Santa. People grow up and they stop believing and they get caught up in life instead of the joy – or so such movies say.
Thinking of it that way brings it back to God who is obviously not even close to a Santa – who only watches you to see if you’re naughty or nice all year, checks in and gives you gifts one night a year. You may get your picture with him and tell him what you want and then you magically get all you wanted under the tree Christmas morning.
That’s not how God works at all. Can you imagine the gifts God gives? Eternal! Eternal gifts are yours for the taking. Believing is a bit different with God though. God has performed miracles – actual miracles. His Son, Jesus, is the reason for the season. Jesus was born of a virgin and is the actual Son of God. The belief in Him and His works, His fulfillment of prophecy perfectly brings an eternal hope to us on earth. Sorry to break it to anyone, but Santa can’t get on that level – even if he tried.
God doesn’t need our belief to stay “alive” or stay around. God will go on and on without us – Him having no beginning or end – just as God’s Word will live on.
The fact that God doesn’t need me warms me to Him even more because I know that He wants me anyway. He wants me to lean on Him, trust Him, find joy and comfort in Him. I can trust that His plans are good even when I don’t understand. I don’t know all the ways of God – they’re unfathomable and surpass my human understanding. I’m unworthy of a God so perfect and so wholly self-sufficient, yet I’m made righteous through my belief and dependence on Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.