The title is based on a statement made by Neville Goddard, an overrated self-help guru/mystic from Barbados. If you search for the title “The Universe is Rigging in Our Favor” on YouTube you will find a video from some guy speaking on the Oprah Winfrey Network. What’s the difference between Neville Goddard and Oprah Winfrey? One is an overrated self-help guru/mystic, and the other is a guy from Barbados.
AND YET!
I find some value in the statement.
The way that the guy on Oprah’s network described it (his name is Rob Bell, but that’s not important), is that the universe wants you to be whole. The universe is bent toward you being at peace, etc, and that the times when you are not at peace are not the norm and should not be treated as such. Granted, this guy is a religious “pastor” and so he talks about God, and says the Cross as the avenue by which God makes you be whole, but still, that’s the gist of it. Without getting into the weeds of his theology, I find the title itself intriguing.
God made the universe. God put me in the universe. God sent Jesus to die for me (humanity) alone. Jesus didn’t die to redeem a turtle, an ocean, a moon, or even a galaxy of stars. He wanted to redeem people. And the work of God in this world was done in order to ensure eternal fellowship between Himself and us, His sixth-day creation. I think that’s amazing. Considering the infinite nature of God—the unfathomable hugeness of such a Being—the idea that He would not only take an interest in me, but would sacrifice so completely in order to reclaim me, is astounding.
Sin is the great disrupter of my relationship with God. It’s the ultimate destabilizer, chaos-bringer, and ruiner of all good things. The universe—all that God made—was “good, good, and very good” after God was done with it (Genesis 1). Then came sin, and something bad tainted what was once perfectly good. The universe stopped being perfect, but the universe is made by God, and the Lord wants things to be perfect. By sending Jesus, everything that was tainted can be purified. Everything that was disrupted can be at peace. The Devil might have thought he won a great victory on the day Adam and Eve sinned, but the universe is made by God, and the universe is “rigged” (designed with a purpose in mind) in our favor.
~Matthew