I hope you got something out of my last post. It was part of a powerful, liberating read for me. I'm still reading the book I took that out of, actually, that is just in the beginning. So I will be sure to write more as I reflect. I won't continue copying the whole book, because, well, that would be illegal I think!
I am on this journey and feel so close to finally "getting it" about God's love. Things I've always known in my heart and spirit but just wasn't able to express or put into words. Probably because it's just something you(I) need to experience not just know, or believe, or be taught. As Christians I feel we're often handed this recipe card, so-to-speak, on knowing God, hearing from Him and being loved by Him. And therein lies the crux of the problem: I'm taught and believe that those things are things to be found, acquired, learned. When in fact they are just there already, not to be attained or achieved. See, it's hard to put into words, let's just say I'm finally learning how to live loved.
But here are some thoughts and notes on the follow-up to my previous post. If you haven't read it, maybe you should.
DO I HAVE TO?
In my observation, those who seek to follow God only because they don't want to go to hell never discover how incredible a Father he really is. They see Christianity as an onerous burden and don't want to do one bit more than they absolutely must.
When someone is struggling with desiring something that Scripture marks out of bounds for the believer, we ask what we should do. If we/they are told what the Bible seems to say, do we ever feel somewhat disappointed, as if to look for some sort of loophole? I mean, so many people who have been raised with religion want to find a way to have what they want and not end up in hell.
"Do I have to stay in this marriage if I don't want to go to hell?"
"Do I have to forgive the person who hurt me, to be saved?"
"Do I have to give up this habit, to be saved?"
*How do you answer those kind of questions? They are totally unfair. If you say yes, you can do what you want then you empty the cross of it's power by substituting human effort. If you say no, people will use it as an excuse to indulge in a false notion of what it means to live in God.
These kinds of questions actually reveal how far removed Christianity has become from its central purpose. Instead of desiring to walk in friendship with him, we are only preoccupied with securing his goodies.
It's his blessing we want, not him!!! How painful that must be for him.
It would be like inviting your adult child over for dinner. He hesitates a moment. It's obvious he'd rather not come, but before he answers he wants to know something, "Mom, I guess I could come but I've got other things I'd like to do. Will you write me out of your will if I don't come?"
What answer can a mother/father give to that question? None would suffice since the question misses the whole point of relationship. True, God has the best goodies in the universe, but the person who seeks those without desiring to know him misses out on the real life of the kingdom.
That is exactly what those of us who wonder if we must do something or risk our salvation. They don't want one drop more of God's life than the minimum required to escape hell. How tragic! No wonder they missed the best gift God could give them. Jesus wanted so desperately to free them from the tyranny of trying to earn eternal life by their own religious efforts.
All this is not to say that hell does not exist, nor that dire consequences await those who refuse God's freedom. What I (Wayne) am saying is that when we use the threat of hell to motiviate people to come to God, we're using it in a way Jesus never did and in a way he never intended. In doing so, we push people further away from God's greatest desire, rather than inviting them closer to it.
The message of Christ was not to come to God or you'll burn in hell. His message was the God's kingdom has come near you and you can become a participant in it. You have a Father who loves you more than any other person ever has or ever will, and you can now discover what it means to have a daily relationship with him. If not, then your own sin will destroy you utterly and completely
There is no one that God does not love with all that he is. His love reaches beyond every sin and failure, hoping that at some moment they will come to know just how loved they are.
There is nothing more important for you to know.
*(Much of this taken from Wayne Jacobsen)
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