Lately I’ve been reading a lot about God’s love and grace which has stirred a lot of thought. In fact, some of the beliefs I’ve held throughout most of my life have changed rather dramatically. I’ve written in the past about our tendency to define God by our own personality or understanding of certain things. Similarly, we tend to impose our own sense of justice onto God and then expect God to dispense the same type of justice to people as we do. When someone wrongs us our first response is usually to get even, or to somehow make them pay for their wrong. Try suggesting otherwise and you’ll be called weak or cowardly. Try turning the other cheek and you’ll likely be accused of being non-confrontational, which for some reason has become an undesirable characteristic.
Why are so many of us more comfortable with a God who is quick to judge than with a God who is long-suffering? Why are we more comfortable with a God who uses a measuring stick, expecting our actions to fit a strict code of conduct, than with a God who loves us and gently leads us in spite of our actions? Why do so many Christians prefer a harsh God than a God of grace and mercy?
At the same time I would ask why so many Christians are in favor of the death penalty, or afraid of people whose views are different from theirs or perhaps are gay or lesbian? Why do we seem to be more comfortable with a harsh response than with one that is loving?
I can accept people who find it hard to extend their love and grace beyond the bounds of a small box, because we’re all just human and have our limitations. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to accept them putting God in a box that is defined by their own human limitations. The somehow expect God to act as if He were human. He is God, and God is love!
As I’ve shared my thinking with people they frequently comment about how weak that makes God look (again, putting God into a human context) and how they believe God is a God of wrath and justice, and they keep going from there. So, here’s my question: Which is the more powerful God, the one who conforms to human standards, lashing out at His creation whenever they screw up? Or is the more powerful God the one who allows love to surface above all, even when He’s angry and disappointed in His creation?
May 23, 2008 at 12:29 am
This is something I’ve been wrestling with as well…one thing that is of interest to me is people’s misuse of the word justice…justice isn’t a penal word…justice literally is to be understand as “setting things right”…
Think about that, God is a God who is about “setting things right”. It reminds me of Ghandi who couldn’t understand why we would punish a thief, “it will only make him steal again and from someone else…Why not instead seek to ask the thief what may be done that he should be a thief no more.” Justice–setting things right. God is about justice…but justice is far more of righting that which was wronged–returning that which was stolen and causing him who stole to steal no more. For me, that changes everything.
I love it bro…you’re digging in some great trenches.
May 23, 2008 at 9:08 am
Brittian – good to hear from you. The “setting things right” definition certainly helps keep things in proper perspective. I wonder if there’s hesitancy to take that approach because it’s more difficult. In the Ghandi example for instance, it’s easier to just throw the thief in jail than to do otherwise. I think the “church” has sometimes been guilty of similar, “simple” solutions. It’s easier to declare certain things as wrong, unholy, or sinful than it is to enter into conversation and grapple with what’s appropriate in a given situation.
On a side note, I saw a red-headed kid walking down an Olathe street a couple of weeks ago and thought I was seeing you as a Jr High kid again