A lot of people believe in God.
An atheist at his true roots may even believe in God, but he chooses to reject the notion of that same God because the God he would choose to believe in is a God whose sole purpose is to subject his creatures to fear, wrath, pain, suffering, judgment, and death.
A lot of people claiming to be Christians believe in God.
Many of those same people claim God to be something that I believe God is not.
So then the question becomes, what kind of God do you believe in?
“Who is the God of your imagination “really? Is He the invisible honorary president of outer space? A Great Hangman in the sky? The policeman who bats you over the head with his nightstick every time you stumble and fall? The badgering customs officer rifling through you moral suitcase looking for you good deeds and bad? The omnipotent thug who invades to rob you of peace and joy?”
This next paragraph is an example of the God I’ve often projected.
“When I was a little boy I had the naïve idea that when I went to confession, God was frowning on me because I had been bad. As soon as I confessed my sins, God would begin to smile again. Somehow my confession implied a change in God. How absurd! My confession only implies a change in me. Now I understand things differently. More like this: You and I are standing in the middle of a spotlight on the platform of a church; the rest of the church is in darkness, but we are in bright light. To me this scene is a good image of ragamuffins living in a state of grace. Now, suppose that you or I commit grave, deliberate sin. What happens? We step aside into shadows, but the light remains shining. God’s love never changes ?” we have simply chosen to step away from it. When we repent, we come back into the light of God’s love, which has always been there.”
It’s easy to turn our spirituality into sin management thus cheapening grace.
“The saved sinner is prostrate in adoration, lost in wonder and praise. He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven. It serves as an expression of gratitude rather than an effort to earn forgiveness. Thus the sequence of forgiveness and then repentance, rather than repentance and then forgiveness, is crucial for understanding the gospel of grace.”
This is what I know to be true about my God, the God of the Bible:
God loves you unconditionally.
“Your Father God loves you as you are, not as you should be. He loves you beyond fidelity and infidelity; beyond worthiness and unworthiness. He loves you in the morning sun and the evening rain. He loves you equally in your state of grace and in your state of disgrace. He loves you without caution, regret, boundary, limit, breaking point. No matter what happens or what you do…He can’t stop loving you!”
I have good news my friends…God delights in you
* All quotes by Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel *
Nathan Ragamuffin Salley
