The central truth of my childhood and teenage religion was: God is unpleasable. Not that God’s standards were unreasonable. Given all the spiritual aids available to us—the Bible, the writings of Ellen White, the fellowship of the church, prayer, and above all, the powerful working of the Holy Spirit—perfection was obviously possible. But try as I might, I just couldn’t achieve it. My failures displeased God.
Of course, I knew God “loved” me. It’s just that I annoyed him. Embarrassed him. In his role as judge, once probation closed, it would be his job to condemn me.
I knew all the Bible verses that urged obedience and held up perfection as God’s ideal for humanity. How could you argue with that?
The central truth of my adult religion is: God is very fond of me and you.
God the Unpleasable came from my view of myself as a son. Given my bungling, I could not imagine how my father or my Father could be pleased with my performance.
God the Happy One comes from my view of myself as a father. Given my delight in my own children—children who like their father are imperfect—surely the Father of All Love delights even more in his children.
Of course, God’s ideals are exalted. But those ideals are not minimum standards we must reach in order to earn his favor. They are the goals toward which we live. All the while we are bungling toward those ideals, the Heavenly Father is overflowing with affectionate regard for us. For me. For you. And for the people who listen to you preach.
So the next time you have a microphone, tell them: God is very fond of you.
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1 comment:
Thanks John. I've also been greatly comforted by the positive future God has of us that's recorded in Ephesians 2:10 -- my favorite verse -- when I'm haunted by those demons of perfectionism: "We are God's workmanship (we are the "media" that He's chosen to work with...) created for good works (rather than leaving us to our own performance outcomes) in Christ Jesus, which He has prepared in advance (not sat around wondering what might happen) for us to do!"
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