In the midst of the recent commotion about a very public resignation from Christianity, I am compelled to make a statement. I too am embarrassed by the angry voices of misguided people who claim a special calling from the God of the Bible. And I am appalled at the self-appointed, religious extremists from fringes of Christianity who are giving my God a bad rap. They pop-off, picket, and protest but they don’t speak for me.
I’m here to put in a good word for the God I have spent a lifetime getting to know...He’s the God who invented the freedom to choose good or bad, right or wrong. Because of him we will always have the choice. Others may boast of a god who demands devotion, or hoop jumping, or strict adherence to weird religious traditions and practices, but My God takes me “as is,” in spite of my fears and frustrations, and my lifelong collection of failures. He spots good in me long before I even think about it.
To many people he ‘s invisible, but I see him in the pages of his Book, and in the eyes of people I meet in Starbuck's, and in the lives of ordinary church-goers and church-avoiders.
No one knows people like my God, he created the category. That’s why he invented second chances. For some incredible reason he loves me in spite of my propensity to break things, my thoughtless forgetfulness, and my lifelong selfishness. I’ve gotten angry with him, I've denied him, and I've fought him, but I can't get away from him. He persists.
After all, He has invested centuries of earth-time showing us how impossible it is to live perfect and keep all the rules, then he punched a hole in the sky and invaded the impossible with the unthinkable--incarnation--God lived in human skin. That "Jesus event" changed everything.
The promise is no longer confined to a book. It's written on human hearts--yours and mine. Jesus didn't die to set up a new ruling system, or build political power, or establish a religious institution. He didn't come to leave us with a world religion.
He came and lived and died to do one thing, to grace us with a personal invitation, a calling to life beyond our failures. He has gifted us with free-will, passion, and promise and wants us to live without a smidgen of fear. He continues to transform roadblocks and stumbling blocks and mental blocks into unexpected roadsigns and epiphanies.
Through it all, He has caught my tears while I was still hiding them, he’s listened to my heart before I could form the words, and has given me a dream that has become a mission. He has pruned my intuition, challenged my values, tested my decisions, refined my motives, and he always knows how to grab my attention.
Through the centuries we have learned how to make Christianity more about us than God… NOT HERE! I’m sticking with God.
Want to know him better? Email me. ron@faithteam.org.
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