After reading some books that I have borrowed, I come to understand that creation is actually a self-actualization of God's love. God is love and this love must be directed towards other beings. The Trinity is already eternally existent. The potentially of creation is being actualized in the moment of Big Bang and God's love is manifested in His creation. Love's nature is such that it is has to be shared and such that it must exist within a community. That's why God actually need not create us in this first place because the Trinity is already a community and this love is already being directed and shared among the Trinity. God wants to share His love with His creation as this is part of the nature of love's self-actualization. Humankind, being the apex of His creation and the only creation bearing the image of God, are also capable of being loved and to love the others. That explains why we must live in a community and for many of us, having a family or children or friends is another way to manifest the nature of our love. We are living in a process of self-actualization. We believe that by doing something or by believing in something/someone, we make ourselves more complete or realize our own being.
Most of us are capable of reciprocating love. When we received love, we also show love to the person who initiated it. The greatest challenge lies not in reciprocating love but in initiating love without expecting a return for it. That's why the love of a mother or parents is regarded as one of the most esteemed form of love in the world. Parents love their child without their child choosing to love them first. Parents continue to love their child in spite of the hurts or pains caused or nursed by the words/deeds committed against them. This is what makes such parental love so noble. If we were to push it to the higher level, dying for the child is the form of love that would command an even higher respect from humanity. Come to think of it, isn't it true that our parents nurse us till we are adults and continue to worry or take care of us directly or indirectly till the day they die?
What makes the sprit of humankind to be stupefying is our ability to exhibit the love that exceeded what has been mentioned above, i.e. when we are willing to die for a stranger or someone who is not related to us. Isn't that what makes Mother Theresa so endearing in the eyes of many of us, especially the Indians in Calcutta? Isn't that what makes Pope John Paul II so inspiring for many of us living in this century, especially the Catholics? Isn't that what makes Jesus Christ so monumental in history of humankind, especially the Christians? God created the laws of physics and math at the same moment when time was created. Some people see Him as a programmer who has planted the natural laws in the universe and abandoned the universe to let things run it's natural course. However, those who believe in special revelation from God (namely, Muslims, Jews and Christians) would say that He has not abandoned us and has revealed Himself to us. Those who believe that Jesus Christ has died for our sins will testify that not only has He not abandoned us, but He showed His love for us by dying on the cross for us. He continues to work through His Spirit and continues to be with us today.
Though World War I, War World II, the Holocaust, the Rape of Nanking, the genocides committed in the world, the growth of many different religions which profess polytheism or atheism and the many injustices existing in the world are all crying out against the existence of God, we by faith, continue to cling on to our belief in Him. It is not blind faith. It is because He has come into our presence by incarnating in our flesh and blood; because He has identified with the absurdities of our life by taking on the pain and suffering on the cross; because He has chosen solidarity with His creation by Incarnation and to live among us as a humble servant, a miracle worker, a rabbi, a God-Man, as an atonement for all our sins and eventually His Resurrection, God has every right to call us to wait in anticipation for the day when the whole creation will be redeemed. He has every right to call us to be His co-workers to make the world a better place. Not because He has fouled it up, but because we have fouled up yet He continues to seek us into the fold and embrace of His love. The Incarnation and Resurrection are only the singular event in the world that makes a difference to the hope that we can have, the life that we should be living now and the purpose of our life now.
In His Incarnation, we are called to identify with the suffering in the world and to address the injustice in the world. In His Resurrection, we are called to testify to His life, His teaching, to share the gospel in the world and to live in the glorious hope of the completion of His kingdom and the full redemption of His creation. Let His Incarnation and Resurrection continue to speak to us today and to live our life worthy of His calling.
