Just in case...

There was a solar eclipse yesterday in India. Such astral occurrences apparently trigger some “just in case” activities among the superstitious. Many fear an eclipse is an omen of evil and their newspapers give them “just in case” advice. It can’t hurt, they reason, to have a nava graham puja done immediately. That’s a Hindu ceremony to undo the bad influences of the solar eclipse. It also can’t hurt, they advise, to consult one’s horoscope and to give specific gifts to the temples: wheat, copper coins or a small copper pot, a red cloth, saffron, fruits that are red or deep yellow in color. It can’t hurt, they reason.

Ancient Israel lived in a world like ours, surrounded by “just in case” people who didn’t deny God’s existence but saw him more as a god of crisis than their Creator. There were gods for nearly every condition, just in case. It couldn’t hurt, they reasoned.

While visiting Athens, Paul spoke against the many “just in case” gods he saw there. He credited the people for their religious fervor, and then offered to simplify their lives. He identified the unknown god they included “just in case” as the Creator of the universe.

He told them, “since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill.” (Acts 17:29)

God is not a “just in case” god to fill in the gaps. We are not the boy at the dike, plugging the holes with our design and skill. It’s much simpler than that.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

There is no other name. As followers of Jesus, we are an “all the eggs in one basket” people. Anything else is not “just in case” but idolatry.