Meditation: Co-creation

A healthy tension exists in Scripture that seems to make the Bible contradict itself, or at least give different slants to a picture. Calvinism emphasizes the sovereignty of God. “God does everything,” the extremist would say. Wesley tends to stress man’s responsibility. The extremist would say, “keep yourself saved.” And for the extremes, “naire the twain shall meet.”

My friend, Dr. Mark Pitts, Vice-president for Academic Affairs at Northwest Nazarene University, often uses the term “co-creation.” We are co-creators of Christ’s life within and through us. That term seems to hinge the two theological doctrines appropriately.

When Christ was standing in front of the tomb of Lazarus, before he called Laz to return to the land of the living, He could have just as easily rolled the stone away by voice. But no, he commanded the people involved to roll the stone away. Man’s responsibility.
A stone blocked the entrance into the tomb in which Jesus’ dead body lay. That stone was moved supernaturally. God’s sovereignty.

Philippians 2:12 challenges us to, “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Man’s responsibility. However that very next verse reads, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” God’s sovereignty.

The security of the believer versus loss of salvation is another healthy tension found in Scripture. Security of the believer is observed in John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.” God’s sovereignty.

Yet it seems like Hebrews 6 indicates that you can lose your salvation. Verses 4-6 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Man’s responsibility.
Both sides of the security issue are represented by brilliant, godly people who often explain away the other’s view point. Could it be that some people need the emphasis of security while others need the emphasis of man’s responsibility?

And in this blog’s emphasis of GainThroughLoss, co-create during times of loss – be it demise of health, divorce, death of a loved one, business reversal or whatever. God promises that He will work everything that happens to us for good if we are cooperating with Him. Loving Him. Obeying Him. Trusting Him through the loss. If we’re not “co-creating” with Him, we become bitter or cynical or lethargic and gain through the loss vanishes. All we have is the loss and negative fallout.

We’ll know the answer to this “healthy tension dilemma” when we engage with God in the New Earth, but until then, co-create. My former Presbyterian pastor, Frank Barker of Birmingham, explained it this way, “Work as it all depends on you. Pray as it all depends on God.”
I’ve spent half of my life under the influence of Calvinistic doctrine, half with Wesley-arminian emphasis. I’m enjoying the strengths of both and hopefully learning to Co-create!