Allowing God to be God

Many of those who have been in God's service have fallen into the trap of making a god out of this service. They eventually come to the point that it is no longer God they are serving but the self with all its needs and with all self-seeking and its self-justifying mechanisms. It is very hard to see especially if one has already fixed his attitudes with the self-righteous character of a "holier than thou" person. It might be very hard to accept but doing good can prevent a well-meaning Christian from loving God. To help others will be something good but one might get addicted to the good feelings and to the creeping but silent awareness that "I am a good person and a holy person" which are, of course, nothing but hidden pride. Our knowledge of God can also lead us away from God primarily if we have not been open to the workings of the Spirit. This maybe because the person must have been too preoccupied preaching about God, conceptualizing what and who God is and making other people understand that they eventually lose the very essence of Christianity and that is actually loving God and others. Thinking too much about God may also prevent one from losing everything even these divine ideas so that one can learn directly from God Himself. Great spiritual writers from Eckhart, John of the Cross and the author of the Cloud of Unknowing have only one word that preludes the meeting with the Ultimate, Everlasting, Omnipotent GOD . . . and that is to see, to feel, to know and to be......nothing. God can only be God if we are pure of heart that is there is no other intention in our heart lesser than God Himself. Thanking God for the gifts of things, persons and life is one way of acknowledging that these may all be good but there will always be a time that we realize that only God matters.