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Show Notes
Isn’t it truly amazing how much spiritual life is reflected in real everyday life events? For instance, the other day, I had cause to take note of a woman not being interested in a certain young man. To put it simply – he wanted to take her on a date and she was not interested in the least. Pretty straight forward; interest by the one does not have to equate to interest by the other. But this story isn’t about that couple, it’s about us relating to God and his love. This is what we are going to explore here in episode11.
My name is Charles, and this is the Simple Not Shallow Podcast. A podcast for those who want a deeper faith, not a confusing one. That is what our name is about, keeping faith in Christ simple enough for a child like me to understand it and yet, not so shallow that when the storms of life hit, our faith runs aground. Here we go.
So, boy meets girl, the girl couldn’t care less, and the boy lets it go. Now, here’s the thing; he is still interested in her. Yet, being honest with himself, he and admits that she is not interested in him and that she has left no indication that she ever would be. This honesty has left him in an interesting frame of mind; for now, he willingly leaves her alone because she does not want anything to do with him. Oh, he is still desirous of her becoming interested in him and may, from time to time, float an invite her way. Yet, he respects and honors her wish to not have anything to do with him. He believes it would be wrong to force his attentions on her. Indeed, if he did so, we would call him something much worse than a jerk.
“Ok Charles, I thought you said this was not about this couple, why are you still talking about them?” Well, it’s just that... Is it not strange that we often expect God to do what we would blame another for doing? Track with me for a moment.
God, for some strange reason known only to himself, wants a relationship with each and every one of us. You, me, the dweeb next door, all of us. Yet he leaves it up to us whether a relationship is started or not.
He sends invites and makes the initial overtures, yet he will not force anything. He will not push – if you say no, no it is. He honors your choice. Such is the love and respect he has for you.
Yet, there are only two possible destinations. One that leaves us in the presence of God and one that does not. In other words, there is Heaven and there is Hell. If like the girl in our story, you say "no" to him here, he will not force himself on you there. For how would he be loving, holy, or anything else, other than a manipulative dirt-bag, if he used your disadvantage (your death) to force himself upon you?
Yet sometimes, it sounds like this is what we want. You hear it all the time, “Do whatever you want here, God is love. He won’t hold anything against you or send you to hell. How could a loving God do that? Everyone gets into heaven.” What is this but an unwitting desire for God to force a relationship upon you? Do you really want him, if you have said no to him all your life, to turn around and force you to live in his presence? To force you to have to deal with him forever?
Why cast God as such a manipulative low-life; one who forces us, against our wishes, to relate to him in the afterlife? If we want nothing to do with him here, why would we want to live in his presence there? Why would we desire him to dishonor our choices and force us to live with him there? Hmmm… manipulation by one and the desire to be dishonored by the other…. There is a term for that, dysfunction.
So, why would we want to live in the presence of a dysfunctional God? One who could only provide a dysfunctional relationship in heaven, one where love and respect do not matter? That does not sound like heaven to me. Most of us realize that living in a dysfunctional relationship is pure misery. Why would we want that to go on forever?
There is enough dysfunction in this world, isn’t there? Shouldn’t heaven be a better place? I think so, don’t you? And the good news is that God is truly loving and not dysfunctional. He will honor your choice to relate to him or to not do so. So, choose today and choose well. By the way, I am speaking to those who call themselves Christian. Not who you had in mind? Oh... well… we will have to explore this connection next time.
Well, what do you think? I’d love to hear from you, so please, go to simplenotshallow.com, and under the Simple Not Shallow Podcast section, find this episode, #11, and leave a comment for me there. Also, in the show notes, I’ll list all the verses I referenced, in the order and at the location in the transcript at which I referenced them. That way you can check me out to make sure I’m not totally in left field. Also, please take a second to rate this episode and subscribe to this podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify… or whichever service you use. Thank you. I’ll catch you next time.
