I like watching Jordan Peterson videos on YouTube. The other day I saw an interview with him in which the interviewer asked him if he believed in God. Peterson declined to discuss the topic because it is so large and important a subject that a simple “bumper sticker” declaration is inappropriate. But then he added that what he would say is that tries to live as if God exists.
Somehow that struck me as a profoundly appropriate answer. It immediately took the question from the realm of intellectual speculation, subject to all kinds of mental gymnastics, to being a question about our own inner life. In all the debating about the existence of God, you very seldom hear people talking about what hangs on the answer.
Now, “living as if God was there” could mean different things. It could be a sort of works-based righteousness notion. That is, if I behave in certain ways, do certain things, I can get God to approve of me. But I don’t think that is what Peterson had in mind. It is more like, if God is there then there is meaning to life. And Christians would add, if God is as he has revealed himself to be in Christ, a God of love, then love is shown to be the highest motivation of all.
It is not that we live and do what we do in God’s presence because we know there will be “consequences” if we behave well or badly. Our living in God’s presence is a response to his initiative in loving us. Realizing that we are loved and knowing how much that love exceeds what we could ever earn brings with it a motivation to act in ways that replicate that love. Living in the love of God means not just receiving his love but passing it on as well. We have the concept of hardening or softening our hearts. Sometimes we think that we soften our hearts towards God but neglect to think that a softened heart is also softened towards those around us. There is no such thing as a half-softened heart that is open to God but closed to the people around us.
The epistle of James talks a lot about faith being more than belief but being the source of actions. Whatever we do, we do out of a sense of how the world works. What we do shows what we actually believe about what is true and worthwhile. How can we not care about others if we believe that God loves us all? How can we not regard with compassion people that God loves even to the point of sacrificing himself for them?
“Living as if God was there” gives meaning to our lives, and living as if that God is a God of love brings joy. May God fill our consciousness with the knowledge that he loves us beyond all measure so that we show the world that he is there.
