I recognize the obvious audacity in attempting to consider such a vast, important, indeed life changing topic, but I will focus on what I know for sure. God is very likely not who you have been taught He is. You can learn who He really is according to His Word, but that’s not a book you are just going to pick up and immediately understand. But, make no mistake, you can understand and that is the purpose of today’s one thousand words, give or take…
The largest point of misperception seems to center around this notion that God is somehow the moral police whose job it is to point out your sins and faults. I vividly recall taking some marketing clients to a college basketball game in Philadelphia, when the topic of God somehow came up. I explained I was a part of a local Christian fellowship. Immediately, both of them apologized for ordering beers and seemed distraught over how many times they may have cussed. What a shame! (I was buying – smile). You see, how silly? As if God would somehow be opposed to having beers? Or, was God really offended about how they communicated with me? Really? I think we need to give God a little credit here. You don’t think He understands the creatures he made? You think your use of an expletive is beyond God’s tolerance level? It may surprise you to hear this, but all of that accusation and judgment you experience both inside your own head and at the hands of other people does not come from God. It comes from His opponent the adversary who has done a spectacular job of convincing you otherwise. God has already seen your whole life through, so what surprises do you have for Him? God is not the moral police. God is not reminding you about your sins nor pointing out where you come up short. God sent His son to die for your sins so the subject would never be brought up again. That is love. That is who God really is…
Another great error in thought is the idea that you can be accepted before God according to your good works. In other words, if your good can somehow outweigh your bad before death you will “make” heaven. Or, if you can work hard enough to be accepted by God, maybe, just maybe He will help you out in life. You may not realize it, but that is a dangerous trap you will find it very hard from which to escape. Let’s say something makes you afraid. Maybe it is fear that your children won’t be okay. So, in order to earn a little protection from God you resolve yourself to “clean up” your life. “From now I’m not doing this or that anymore!” Then, because you are a human you are going to mess up again (trust me). You are going to feel real, real bad about messing up and resolve yourself to work harder to make God love you; to protect you. The harder you work, the more you will fail. Enter vicious cycle! In reality, God doesn’t protect you because you are so good, but rather because He is so good! He is a loving Father. Don’t you love your kids? Well, what shenanigans do they have to perform for you to love them? To watch over them? I’m guessing none! God isn’t after your fear based love, He is after your free-will love! You love Him because He first loved you!
Our God is a God of grace; unmerited, unearned divine favor. He is the God of all mercy! He already knows you are going to come up short on your own and has made a way for you to win and that way doesn’t have a blessed thing to do with how good or bad you are! That’s grace my friends. God isn’t your problem, He is your solution. He is the answers you’ve been searching for your whole life. He understands what you are up against in life and wants you to know how to do life successfully. And, by successfully I sure as hell am not referring to all of the heaviness and misery associated with trying so damn hard to be good! Don’t let anyone put you on that treadmill! All that behavior and wrong thinking does is force you to dwell on the world of sin and wrong and as such have no opportunity to change. It’s a deception of unparalleled proportions. No-one ever gets better or does better by focusing on everything they do wrong. Instead more and more wrong is produced. You do not have to live that way no matter how much you were taught otherwise. God has already forgiven you!
How we ever let the enemy convince us that all fun and enjoyment in life is reserved for evil and that God’s way is a way of perpetual boredom and avoidance of life, is beyond me. Where do you think the notion of enjoyment and happiness came from? From evil? From darkness? From error? I can assure you that life with God is chock full of happiness and freedom and peace. God’s job is to help you get rid of fear, not be the source of it. God wants to heal you, not make you sick or abandon you when you when you need Him the most. God does not want you to run from life, but rather embrace it and enjoy it to the full. Life with God produces joy! It is error and evil that is the source of ALL of your misery. God wants you to understand that and will lead you in the best way; the way that avoids it. Like any Father worth his salt, God wants you to know what’s going on in life. He is willing to teach you if you want to learn. Don’t spend another moment under the opinions and ideas of men, but rather seek the truth. The truth really will set you free.
God is life…
Just some good thoughts…
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