Is God in Your Platform?

If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny. The Democratic Convention had a scramble-fest yesterday as the President required–among other things–that a reference to God be put back in the party’s platform. It’s actually a pretty weak reference, as it uses the colloquial phrase “God-given talents.” And there was actually a brouhaha over it. Seriously?

But there is a great lesson for us all in the Dems’ efforts to stay somewhat connected to Main Street by including the reference to God. Here’s the lesson: It doesn’t help to have God in your platform, no matter how frequent or how sweetly you mention his name. God isn’t supposed to be IN any platform. He is the platform.

Making God part of your platform or as part of your strategy for a successful and happy life is about as smart as saying that he is your copilot. It simply isn’t in his nature to be part of something or co-anything.

Many of us–and by us I mean followers of Jesus–have become compartmentalized in our thinking about discipleship and the role God and his Holy Spirit play in our daily lives. We tend to let God into the areas of our lives where we think we need him most, but we want him and his pesky Spirit to not meddle in areas where we want to call our own shots. We want God to guarantee our happiness and to give us good health and to give us good weather for our golf outing next weekend, but we don’t want his input on how we treat the poor or on our view of sexuality or on how we spend our money.

We need him in the platform, but that’s all. Like I said, if it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.

Friends, if your strategy for a happy life is to call on God when you think you need him or to have him as part of your plan, then get ready for a life of futility and frustration. Not only will you fail because of your disobedience to God, but you will constantly be bumping into walls–God-given walls. He will not sit quietly by while you try to relegate him to part of your life. God doesn’t do second place; he won’t be relegated to anything.

So for all of us–political parties, business people, leaders, and individual good-ole religious folk–if we’re having trouble figuring out how to fit God in the platform, then we desperately need some sober thinking and to hurry back to the drawing board.