The Merciful and Approachable God

Misguided, Human Fatherhood

As a young Dad I often thought it was my duty to catch my kids in any wrongdoing and make sure they didn't get away with it.  More training should be required for young people having kids.  Over the years, God impressed upon me that what my kids really needed was to know that I love them and will always be there for them.  This has always been their need.  This will always be their need, no matter their age. 

God's Mysterious Way

I've been reading through Dane Ortland's "Gentle and Lowly" with a group of men. Ortland emphasizes the sympathetic gentleness of Jesus' heart in His invitation: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Mt. 11:28)  Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15) and is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward. (Heb. 5:2) Therefore, we are drawn to come to Him regularly with our struggles and find grace and mercy to help in times of weakness. (Heb. 4:16)

There is a mystery in this.  We automatically assume that if Christ is more merciful, kind, and gentle in His response to our sin, we will be motivated to sin more.  Wouldn't we be naturally more hindered in our sin by Jesus' disappointment and condemnation? Won't my kids sin less if they fear retribution from their Dad? But the opposite is true.  Guilt and shame drive kids to rebel or conform, but not to live rich and healthy lives.  The same is true for followers of Jesus. 

This conversation reminded me of Romans 6-8.  Paul deals with the nature of our salvation in Romans 1-5 and then turns to the question of ongoing sin in chapters 6-8.  He leads with the assumed question: "Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?" (Rom. 6:1)  In chapter 7, he deals with the question of the Law.  Can't we just add more Law, more rules, in order to combat the urge to sin in our lives?  This is Paul's famous rant about doing the things he doesn't want to and not doing the things he tries to and failing over and over in his efforts.  The result of adding more rules and expectations is..."Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24) 

So what is the solution if it doesn't work to just raise the bar? The solution comes in chapter 8: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom. 8:1) Somehow, God's lack of judgment for us results in the victorious lives we have longed for.  The rest of the chapter describes the power of the Holy Spirit at work in believers who no longer belong to the world's system of rules, expectations, failure and judgment (8:1-13).  Rather, we are eternally sons and daughters of God, drawn into intimacy with Him (14-16), worthy of inheritance (17), full of hope (18-25), victorious in our struggles (26-30), and inseparable from the Father's love (31-39).  

So What?

What holds me back then, from falling headlong into the merciful arms of God all day, every day? That's why I'm writing this blog, I guess. I need it more than anyone, just to ruminate on the character of Jesus and remind myself of how gentle He is.  He's not the savior I've made Him out to be, rubbing His forehead in frustration for my repeated failure.  He is gentle and lowly, able to sympathize with my weaknesses and deal gently with me - the ignorant and wayward.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deserving Mercy? Ha! (1 Tim. 1:12-17)

Image
(1 Tim. 1:12-17) 12  I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,   13  even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; Throughout my life, especially the last ten years, when I read this statement from Paul, I feel guilt.  I don't know about you, but when I read Paul saying, "I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief," my insides react with: "But I have sinned so much in full knowledge of the fact I'm sinning! I cannot deserve mercy!" I hope you caught the irony and silliness of that inner conflict.  If not, let me give two reasons why my assumption that Paul  deserves mercy  - and I don't - is asinine.   First, the definition of biblical mercy makes "deserving" impossible.  To use the old AWANA definition of mercy: "God not gi...
Read more

The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything

Image
 I love the old "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series of books.  The satire on humanity is hilarious.  At one point in the tale, a community builds a super computer, smarter and faster than any seen before, so that it can calculate and define the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.  For decades it works until it spits out the answer: "42". No one has any idea what it means.   That feels a bit like my journey.  All of my life I have battled to find that one missing piece, a truth or practice or idea that will glue all of my struggle together and make sense of how to walk with God and know His peace.  Have I found that?  Sure. Maybe? What I'm finding is that it's not just a matter of knowing who God is - revealed perfectly in the man, Jesus Christ - but TRUSTING in who God says He is.  That's a little harder than just calculating the right answer.  The Narrow Road I've recently been captivated by these words of Jesus in...
Read more