Searching for Enough: The High-Wire Walk Between Doubt and Faith

by Tyler Staton

If your image of God is that he is a stern, harsh rule maker, then you will live like you’re always being graded, constantly being watched and evaluated. You’ll believe the truest thing about you is the final mark you receive as the sum total of your days. If your image of God is a permissive, laid-back dad with a headful of curls, making you an omelet in a tie-dye T-shirt, then you will live like your actions in this world are not of ultimate value, that at the end of the day, what you do does not matter in any significant way. When it comes to mistakes, this can be relieving, but what about when it comes to virtue? If your actions are insignificant in the fall of this world, they are also insignificant in the redemption of it. If your image of God is an all-powerful Being far too busy with far too many things to be interested in your one ordinary life, then you will live like you are of little importance. You will have a humble awareness of your small-ness, but no loving awareness of your value. If your image of God is a divine watchmaker who set the universe in place and has moved on to other projects and all but forgotten about this one, you will live like this life and this world are forgettable, like you and those around you are forgettable. You will believe that this world is not the stage of the grand story but nothing more than a sideshow amidst a sea of sideshows. If your view of God is a beautiful accident of scientific factors that led to an explosion of matter...