God sits back in his throne-shaped cloud and sighs as he closes his MacBook.
“Man, I’ve got to get off Facebook. There’s no way I’ll remember all their names by Wednesday’s vote anyway.”
God has had a busy week. ACU students have all been requesting that he put them in the club that he thinks they belong in. Talk about pressure.
“Seriously do they think I am some kind of Sorting Hat?” he grumbles as he accidentally knocks over a bucket of lighting bolts.
Okay, I realize some people think that putting words in God’s mouth can quickly become sacrilegious. There are entire books written on the ideas of God’s discernment and free will and theories of the like that I have absolutely no authority to discuss.
But I am in a social club so I feel that I do have a place to speak when it comes to the practice of creeping on Facebook and narrowing down a list of names every year around rushing season.
Along with these decisions come certain phrases that members and hopeful pledges alike casually toss around. Phrases like, “I hope God puts me in the club he wants me in,” or “I just pray that the Lord chooses the girls he wants in our club.”
And not to disagree with the belief that God cares about who you are surrounding yourself with or that he chooses times and places for certain relationships, but when I hear those phrases, I just can’t help but think, God isn’t the one voting.
Perhaps God doesn’t actually care to vote. Yes, pray to God for wisdom when looking for new members. Yes, ask for this odd ACU-specific system of communities to be led by the spirit. But be careful not to think that God is the one handing out bids on call night.
Doing so only dilutes his holiness. It cheapens the discernment he offers us. It is assuming that God is making decisions that are actually made by a room full of sleep-deprived twenty-something-year-olds.
Whether you are in a club, you want to be in a club, or you don’t have any desire to find out what “Bid Night” actually means, continue to seek God’s guidance. But do not use his wisdom to justify giving or not giving someone a bid.
