"God Is A Really Big Part Of My Life"

There are some phrases that just get under my skin, whether verbal or in print. Phrases like, "Well, they say the good lord works in mysterious ways."

Some of the frustration comes with living in the bible belt and hearing phrases like that my whole life and never seeing any weight attached to them.

Now being in student ministry I hear other cliche phrases. One of them is, "God is such a big part of my life!"

I realize they mean well, or at least I hope they do but then they ask me questions like this:

"Could my worldly experiences have numbed and jaded me so much that I can't experience God's love?"

First of all...hold on... you're only 16. What all worldly experiences could have jaded you? I mean, it doesn't get any easier per se.

Even so, I might be inclined to believe that but I think that there are too many instances in the Bible where those people, regular people, go through so much and still believe and have great lives of faith. In fact it is arguable that the trying times built their character and shaped them in to people of faith.

The reality is, that is what makes us all different yet the same. We all have grown up differently and have gone through different things but God is the same, unchanged by our actions but we change, especially based on our actions and, unlike God, the actions of others. That is why the view of Gods "plan" is so messed up to us. He does not directly control our actions nor the actions of others towards us similar to a puppeteer, he is more like a film director with suggestions who will still have the movie come out His way in the end.

We are all a "part" of His story, the creation story, the humanity story, He is not a just some "part" of ours. Not even a "really big part." It is, and has to be all about Him.

What phrases get under your skin?