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Where is God?

The skeptic asks this when he or she sees our suffering and unjust world. A believer asks this when their life doesn’t line up with the promises from the pulpit. Jesus himself asked this question (Matthew 27:46).

Anyone who has delved into the recesses of their soul, either by religion or by some other practice of self-awareness, has no doubt wondered; “Where is God?”

In the sobriety of this stark, arid moment, many have resolved this question by avoidance, simply concluding; “There is no God.” Which is another way of saying, “If there was a God, life would be other than what it is.”

What does this have to do with Crypto currencies and blockchain technologies? My job over the next few weeks will be to elevate your sight horizon so that you can connect these dots. It would be enough of a task to simply illuminate the implications of Blockchain technology. To go wider still is a tall order, but one that I think is worth the effort.

Back to the question, “Where is God?“

Perhaps you default to a theological construct about omnipresence that comforts your mind. Most religious and spiritual people do. My next question is: “Does a mental attestation to “God is everywhere,” actually satisfy everything your eyes see? How exactly does it resolve human oppression, child abuse, or war?

I invite you to sit a little longer within the tension of this moment. Do you summon up another theological token which deflects the spotlight examining your soul? Can you explain all suffering away as human sin? If so, then how do you reconcile the token that Jesus has taken away the sin of the world (1 John 2:2)? All world religions are propped up by dancing around these existential moments. We go to Priest, Imam, Pastor or Yogi and they reassure us that our chosen framework ultimately answers everything,  if…we believe and obey.

I became an obedient, doctrinal dancer too. I gained a lot of knowledge and my ego became puffed up and certain. I mastered the skill of the dancer, but rarely made it to the actual dance. Like most, I thought God was in the religion, framework, or theological construct. Until I took off my tap shoes, I couldn’t see that God was hiding in plain sight. It was the exile that gave me eyes to see beyond everything.

If God cannot be associated with the horrors of life, then I wonder if we have a grasp of God at all.  If God fits within our theological box, then we don’t have God. I find the Christ story so compelling because it depicts a God as the architect who ascribes meaning to it all.  Suffering exists because beauty is diminished without it. This God writes himself into the human story as his most beloved who participates in every form of human suffering, sorrow, and loss (Isaiah 53:3-5). This breaks the two-story mold of God up there, and we’re down here. God is Emmanuel (with us), as us. God hides in us.

Suffering is not the lack of God’s love, but the gateway to its very depth.

Those who apprehend this have been given a gift that much of the world has yet to possess. This connection isn’t made only intellectually, it’s made primarily within inner experience. We get a sense that God is hiding somewhere within us.

For many people, life is a detached, unhappy, and meaningless existence. Most fear Hell unnecessarily because they are already living there. The correction is being found by what we thought was a hidden God. Colossians 3:3 tells us that our life is “hidden in God“. The Greek word kekryptai (Crypto) means hidden, kept safe and refers to an unchangeable, factual state of BEING. Crypto is Ontological. Hidden is our true GPS coordinate, hidden in God, by seeing the suffering Christ story written into our life. In 3:4 Paul tells us that our life IS Christ and WITH Christ.

The Christ story is hidden in our story!

Christ is hidden. We are hidden. Together we are kept safe (Crypto) in God. Our life is hidden in plane sight. The Crypto God is closer to us than we are to us. Hidden is who we are. This reframes all theological tokens.

Sit with this. Let it marinade.

Believe it or not, this is the starting point of everything. For this series, it’s the starting point of the new horizon of blockchain technology and crypto currencies. Yes, these two topics are connected. In the holy moment everything is connected. The Jews call this the Shama (The Lord is ONE). We are talking about unity. A power to bond disconnected things into a single thing. On the widest plane of spirituality, there is only one thing (1 Corinthians 8:6).

I’m starting with the Crypto God because if you idolize the Blockchain, then the promise of decentralization, and healing the world can never be realized. It may be that Blockchain technology inaugurates a framework that restores the world, but how would you know if we shrink it down to investment opportunity. We must steward Blockchain with wisdom.

I won’t be talking about how to get rich, rather how to bring riches through the blockchain. I’ll offer you a lens to see and pursue the Kingdom and its righteousness. Wealth is always a byproduct-sometime it shows up as money. If wealth becomes the goal, it’s become an idol and we find ourselves trying to master yet another dance while missing the dancer.

If our life is hidden (crypto) in God, and our life IS Christ, then our world outside our doors is the promised kingdom. There is no doubt that the New world is arriving, the question is will we be ready (Matthew 25:1-13)? The arrival of the Blockchain means a kingdom with an entirely “other” set of rules is now a global reality. Everyone is invited, but not everyone will come (Luke 14:6).

Can you see what is hidden beyond the Blockchain?