God Does Not Oppress Us with His Will

In his book, The Politics of God and the Politics of Man, Jacques Ellul looks at accounts from the book of II Kings and presents a case for a God who values human dignity so much that He allows us to freely be who we are. In chapter one Ellul writes about the healing of Naaman, saying that God used many different agents in Naaman's life. He points out that none of the people involved in the healing (Hebrew slave girl, king of Syria, Elisha, Naaman's servants) acted under coercion from God but they acted according to their own "bent", at their own "level" and with their own "personal decision." Ellul goes on to remark, "If the story wanted to show us God crushing the will of man and forcing man to do what God wants, then things would have been very simple."

God takes the dignity and freedom of human beings seriously and will not "crush the will of man" and force us to do what He wants. He allows us to be who we are and to act according to our bent, and He takes our small free actions, combines them with the small actions of others and somehow works to produce beauty and goodness.

George MacDonald puts it this way in his book, Knowing the Heart of God:

"God does not, by the instant gift of his Spirit, make us always feel right, desire good, love purity, aspire after him and his will...The truth is this: He wants to make us in his own image, choosing the good, refusing the evil. How could he effect this if he were always moving us from within? God gives us room to be. He does not oppress us with his will. He 'stands away from us,' that we may act from ourselves, that we may exercise the pure will for good."

The marvel and genius of God is not that He is able to get things done because we finally "get our act together" but that He is able to get things done through broken vessels who never really get our act together but who freely move and act according to our bent and personal decision.

Nothing is More Amazing than...

Valjean being freely released from thievery by bishop in Les Miserables

"Nothing is more amazing than the patient, gentle charity that God displays to His creatures. There is something adorable in the compassion of God for mankind which looks like a voluntary blindness to their evil...The Bible is full of instances of this in His dealings with both nations and individuals, where His justice seems to move with tortoise pace, constantly pursuing but seemingly on purpose to be a long while catching up with the one to be punished, as if to give him every allowance possible to infinite mercy. Now, the more we are with God, and the closer our union is with Him, and the more deeply we drink of the interior sweetness of His life, the more we shall catch something of His gentleness and compassion of spirit which will destroy our proclivity for harsh judgments and take away the keenness by which we discover evil in others..."

- Paul Billheimer (Love Covers) -           

Aiming at Love in the Pursuit of Knowledge

In recent years I've had a growth spurt in knowledge and understanding of God, resulting in mindset shifts which have in turn resulted in more freedom, joy and love - unlike what I have ever experienced before in Him.

There is something seductive about gaining knowledge, even spiritual or theological knowledge. It has the power to delude the learner into thinking he/she is superior to others. This was what the tree of knowledge of good and evil was about - pride and superiority. Paul says in 1Corinthians 8:1 that knowledge "puffs up" while love "builds up."

Would to God we followers of Jesus would all be growing in knowledge of all sorts, but if love is not our goal in the pursuit of knowledge (even when it's the knowledge of God), we are unwittingly feeding pride and superiority. Aiming at love while growing in knowledge is what it means to live from the tree of life, Jesus.

As I continue to grow in knowledge now, I try to see myself in Christ Jesus, He being the One dispensing the knowledge, feeding me. There are times when I sense His quiet voice within me saying to pause reading or studying; and I'm learning that even though it may be wonderful and good material, if He is slowing me down, it's because He knows how much and how fast I should go in order not to be led down the road of spiritual arrogance where I would see others as inferior to myself.

Eating of the tree of life is about growing in love as we grow in knowledge - that is only possible with Jesus' leadership. The goal of all learning is to love - to receive the love of God and then to give that love away to others. If I'm not growing in love and tenderness towards others as I'm growing in knowledge, it may be a sign that I need to reevaluate why I want to grow in knowledge and turn again to the Spirit of God for help to aim at love.

"Let love be your greatest aim." I Cor. 14:1 (TLB)

A Thorough Housecleaning

The big message of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus over all else. In light of this, it's not surprising that the writer would write words like these:

His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered. Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!
 (Hebrews 12:26-28 The Message)

The contrasting of the old systems with Jesus (who fulfills all that the old systems were struggling to portray) shows the need for a shaking that will undo the old order so that the unshakable Kingdom can be established. The beginnings of this shaking happened with the birth and life and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But until He comes again to set up His Kingdom on earth, there will always be systems that get in the way of the beauty and superiority of Jesus.

Sometimes these systems are made up of religious practices that we have engaged in for so long that we confuse them with Jesus; sometimes they are our own internal mindsets/strongholds that have been constructed in us and adhered to for so long that we believe they are true.

But I believe the Spirit of God is fiercely jealous for Jesus and will do something in His people before the end of this age unlike what we have seen before. This will require a shaking of all that can be shaken; and because it will mess with that which we have been so certain of, there will be confusion and disorientation in the Body of Christ.

A few years ago I asked the Lord to shake all that could be shaken in my life and walk with Him, and He has been doing that. I see this happening all around me with many followers of Jesus.

In the midst of the disorientation, "let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." Gratitude to the true and living God will help steady us, and when we feel the ground shaking beneath our feet, we'll find that rather than falling into a bottomless pit, we will fall into Him, the unshakable One who is superior to all else!

Love, not Fear, Must Govern Behavior

I, like many Christians, have lived many years being uptight and fearful, almost obsessed with fear of making mistakes or "wrong" decisions or of being in doctrinal error or "missing God's will" or just not being spiritual enough, etc, etc. Since discovering and moving into a wider place in God, I've found that some Christians are even offended by the idea that we don't have to fear God's disapproval or fear that we are going to "miss His best". Shane Hipps says the following in his book Selling Water by the River:

"Those of us raised in Christianity often live with a lot of fear. Fear that we are doing it wrong (whatever 'it' is). Fear that some unfamiliar idea might hurt us. Fear that God may not like who we are, or what we've done, or what we think. Fear that a particular interpretation of the Bible is hurting the Bible or even God. Fear that we, or others, might be offending God, who apparently has quite fragile feelings, and a hair-triggered temper. Some religious people are even afraid that other people are not frightened enough."

Hipps goes on to say that fear has a legitimate initial role in our early formation in God in that it teaches us what is needed in order to stay safe (comparable to teaching a child to 'fear' a hot stove):

"Fear is a developmental ingredient in the life of faith. It is useful in learning to prevent harm and nurture wisdom ...and helps us develop basic impulse control...But fear also has some serious limits...

"The first stage of development is a much safer place to be...But as we grow, we are more and more moved and opened by Love, or God...fear is about closure and contraction, whereas Love is about opening and expansion. Love by nature is free from fear. The process of becoming open by Love can be unnerving, and it is not for the faint of heart. Doubts emerge when what we thought were solid foundations begin to feel like shifting sands beneath our feet. Love opens us more and more to a freedom that moves us beyond self-justification, self-protection, and self-preservation...

"If we are to access the Living Water Jesus promised, ultimately Love must become the only thing that governs behavior, not fear...Love does not do away with all boundaries; instead, it makes use of them in ways that serve the purpose of Love. 

"As we grow, the question we learn to ask moves from What is right or wrong? to What does Love require?"...fear is actually the absence of Love, not the opposite (of Love)...ridding ourselves of fear is as simple as letting Love in."

Nothing in Our Conditioning Prepares Us for Grace

In the book, Addiction and Grace, the following words by Gerald G. May resonate strongly with what I have discovered and continue to discover about God's grace :

"Grace is only truly appreciated and expressed in the actual, immediate experience of real life situations...it can only be 'lived into.'

"Living into the mystery of grace requires encountering grace as a real gift. Grace is not earned. it is not accomplished or achieved. It is not extracted through manipulation or seduction. It is just given. Nothing in our conditioning prepares us for this radical reality. Some would say that early childhood experiences with our parents is important in determining how we come to accept grace in later life. If we had loving, trustworthy parents rather than rejecting or unreliable ones, we would grow up more willing to accept God's grace as a gift. I do not think this is so. We all have trouble accepting the radical giftedness of God's grace, no matter what our childhood experience. God's grace is simply not part of our conditioning. Nor can we make it so, though we are sure to try. All our attempts to control the flow of grace will be frustrated because, like God, grace will not become an object for attachment. 

"Because grace is a pure gift, the most meaningful of our encounters with it will probably come at unintended times, when we are caught off-guard, when our manipulative systems are at rest or otherwise occupied. But still we can pray for grace, actively seek it, and try to relax our hands to receive it..."

Jesus, You are full of grace and truth; come to us and empower us to receive this radical gift of grace!

The Story of the Enabler Father

We've grown accustomed to hearing the word "enabler" as a negative word describing someone who is enabling a loved one to get away with behavior that isn't healthy.

Jesus' famous story of the 'prodigal son' paints a picture of a father who today would be called an enabler. He doesn't hold his wayward son accountable; in fact, when the son asks prematurely for his inheritance, the father gives it to him in spite of the fact that the request implies that the son has little consideration for his father. Then later when the son returns, the father receives him with celebration with not a word of scolding but pure joy and welcoming.

If we judged this father's actions by our standards, we would call him a weak father. And perhaps he is; but if we call him a weak father, then we are calling the heavenly Father weak. And perhaps He is...

But what if God's weakness is stronger than our idea of power and strength? What if God's foolishness is wiser than our idea of wisdom and knowledge?

Could it be that God enables His children to come to Him through being an Enabler who lavishly and joyfully receives us without pointing out what we've done wrong and what we need to get straightened out?

If so, then those who have named this story "the story of the prodigal father" are correct, because the father in this story doesn't conform to our rules.

In the Luke 15 story Jesus doesn't tell us what life was like after the homecoming, because that's not Jesus' point in telling it. He is showing us what Father is like, and if we get that, then we will be enabled to know what should come after the homecoming celebration in our particular story.

Maybe another title for this story could be "The Story of the Enabler Father"...