◎Wil Rogan (Carey Theological College, Assistant Professor in New Testament Studies)
Much of what we define as success has to do with overcoming limitations—new communication technologies that overcome the limits of distance, for instance, or medical advances that forestall the ultimate limit of death. In such a society, it is easy to forget that our creaturely limitations are a gift from God, a gift to be received and enjoyed.
When we forget that our creaturely limitations are a gift from God, we fall into what the literary critic Terry Eagleton calls the “cult of infinity,” the inexhaustible ambition to do more, to go further, to be better, to reach the stars. When we inevitably fail to be infinite, we are taught simply to try harder. Eagleton calls such striving “pernicious nonsense … and very dangerous, for it sweeps aside the finite, creaturely nature of human beings.”1 The price we pay for our rejection of finitude is unmitigated anxiety, exhaustion, and joyless isolation. We fall into the “cult of infinity” because we believe that the purpose of being human is overcoming the limitations imposed on us by our humanity.
But the purpose of being human is none other than this: being human. And there is no “being human” in the abstract. There is each person God has made. Here we are—you and me and each human person inhabiting God’s creation. Just take a moment and consider what kind of beings we are: utterly unique, uniquely beautiful, beautifully made, made to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” If that is true, what end is there to strive for beyond being you, you who are created and renewed in the image of God? (Col 3:10–11). And whether we find ourselves joyfully being what we’ve become in Christ or whether we still can’t see it because the cult of infinity obscures our vision, even so, “Christ is all and in all” (Col 3:11). How wonderful it is to be a creature made in the image of God, limitations and all.
A Prayer.
CREATING GOD, you made us bodies of bone, sinew, and flesh. This embarrasses us because, well, you are eternal and you have life in yourself, but we can’t even go on existing more than a few days without eating and drinking! We want to be like God in the way the serpent promised, because then we wouldn’t need to depend on you for everything that makes our lives possible. But this is nonsense and deceit, because, even if life were possible without you, we wouldn’t want to live it. You are our joy. Rescue us from the pride of not wanting to be what you made us. Make us more fully human so that we can be more fully like Christ, and so be more like you. AMEN. Note on Sources. The quote from Terry Eagleton is from his provocatively titled lecture “Why is God for Christians Good for Nothing?”
1 The quote from Terry Eagleton is from his provocatively titled lecture “Why is God for Christians Good for Nothing?”
