A Sooner in Carolina

Saw this post "God Is Not My Father" (via The Christian Century) on a religious blog I sometimes read and the title shocked me a little. I opened the link thinking it was from someone who wasn't a Christian (they like to present alternative views on this blog). Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was written by a United Methodist pastor.

turnbacktogod.com

Read the post yourself but I can’t imagine a faith that doesn’t include a more intimate take on God than the one expressed by this pastor. He says,

"The idea of God as Father is remote to my life too. Jesus taught me to call God Father. God as Father is woven into Christian theology and liturgy. But the notion itself does not touch my heart. Neither does God as Mother, the alternative people put forth. Any parental image for God does little for my faith. It feels like I am
missing something important here, but this is where I am. God is not my Father."

he continues...

"By contrast, I love using images for God taken from my daily practice of walking. God as the ground that my feet walk on. God as the air that fills my lungs with life. God as the trees that shelter me in their strong, silent presence. These are images for God that speak to my experience now."

Certainly it’s good to think of God as ever present and as being all things, but aren’t we supposed to develop a relationship with God. How can you be a Christian without relationship with God? God valued relationships so much that He sent Jesus to earth to touch us and relate to us. The triune God we worship is by nature relational. After all He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all existing in relationship with one another and with us.

Our relationship with God shouldn’t minimize God by any means but Jesus and scripture tell us that God desires a relationship with us…

1 John 3:1 - 3
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

I feel I have a strong emotional attachment to God. We are intimate with God through the Holy Spirit which resides within us (2 Timothy 1:14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you---guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us).

It puzzles me that a pastor wouldn’t have a more relational sense of God in their lives. But it points out to me that today many people don't have a traditional family experience. It's unfortunate and to me sad, but we live in a culture in which many people may not know what it's like to have a loving relationship with a father. I’m curious what others think of this? Can you have a strong understanding of God without it having a more human, relational basis?

How would you answer the following questions:

What does it mean to you that God is our Father?

Are we somehow decreasing God to say that He relates to us like a Father instead of the all powerful and mighty God of the universe?

What does a Father/son or Father/daughter relationship look like when God is the Father?

My biological father has passed on now but I dearly loved him and enjoyed my relationship with him. I miss spending time with him and talking to him. I miss just being with him. I probably wouldn’t have admitted it then but I always wanted to try and please my dad as a way to get closer to him. I did that by trying to live a life that honored and pleased him.

I believe God seeks a close relationship with us and that all people, not just Christians, crave relationship with our Father God. We can achieve that closeness by seeking to live in ways which please God and further His kingdom. In other words, seeking the things he desires. And while we could make a long detailed list of what that looks like in a practical sense, I would urge you not to let the idea of pleasing God become too complicated. Jesus actually gave us a three very simple ways to live a life pleasing to God…

Matthew 22:37 - 40 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 28:19 - 20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

If you want to move closer to God you should ask yourself the following three questions:

"How am I living to “love God with all my heart and soul”?".
"How am I living to “love my neighbor”?".
"How am I living to “make disciples” (including making myself a stronger disciple)?".

Closeness and relationship with our Father God are vital to your Christian walk. If you seek a closer relationship with Him keep these questions close at hand and strive to live in a way which pleases your heavenly Father.

All you young people listen up! Work can be hard but that's why it's called work and something else is called fun. Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite opinion columnists, writes about the concept of "Meaningful Work". Some would have you believe that all work should be somehow inspiring and deeply satisfying. The reality is that there are many unsatisfying and difficult jobs that have to be done. People will pay you to do these jobs and they won't seem very meaningful. But these kinds of jobs are often stepping stones to a better life. They teach us lessons about working because we need to make money to support ourselves and the ones we love. Sometimes we need a job like this just to survive. There's honor in that and these kinds of jobs encourage us to seek better things in life! Remember that when your job gets under your skin.

Read Sowell's essay on "Meaningful Work" (via realclearpolitics.com). It's a good life lesson.