Great Dad's set their kids up for success. Everything they do is training and equipping their kids to be successful in their own lives. In fact, probably the greatest tribute to any dad, is when his kids pass him out and succeed him, because he set them up for it.
How does a dad sets his kids up for success? Well, first and foremost is the example he sets them, integrity, diligence, how to treat people, kids watch everything and absorb even the smallest things. The next most important thing is the environment he creates for them. Encouragement, affirmation and protection all enable kids to prosper, to experiment, to take risks and to learn to succeed. Great dads cover their kids mistakes and failures so that fear of failure doesn't become their dominant emotion. Then risk taking becomes a positive experience and the chances of a successful outcome dramatically increases. A person who grows up believing they will fail, or afraid of the consequences of failure, usually does fail.
So what's all this got to do with our Father, God?
Like all great dad's He sets a great example. In fact He sets the perfect example. Jesus, divested himself of his divine attributes and came to earth as a man, constrained and confined by the same limitations as we have. Yet he lived a perfect life, not only not doing anything wrong, but doing everything right. He was perfect in every way, demonstrating to us how we too can do it, if we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, as he did.
But he didn't just set us a perfect example, he gives us everything we need to follow his example. When Jesus died on the cross he fully paid the legal penalty for each time every one of us has broken God's law, past, present and future. In fact he cancelled the laws under which we stood convicted, making them obsolete. He says if we believe in Him, He will create a new spirit inside us, one that is free of the addiction to breaking God's laws, free of the injuries and behaviour patterns that come with addiction, free of the inability to know God intimately, free to be the children of God we were originally designed to be. It's like He not only paid off our debts but He's also given us the downpayment for a new life. He's done everything to set us up for success. The only thing we have to do is accept the free gift. It would seem crazy not to.
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
He doesn't want rules, He wants you!
Many peoples idea of Christianity is a rather long set of rules and rituals which must be obeyed. If you manage to obey these rules, you get to count yourself in the category of 'good people' and you go to heaven when you die. Very few things could be further from what God intended for us.
Obeying rules is the lowest form of relationship that exists - I do what you say to avoid unpleasant consequences - in fact it stretches the term relationship to extremes. In normal human relationships we adjust our behaviour out of respect or affection for another person and their sensibilities. When I first met my wife, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I'd made a bed in my life, but becasue she is a tidy person, I have adjusted my behaviour to such an extent, that I now even make the bed when she is away. She didn't stipulate that I had to do this, I just learned what made her happy and changed.
It works fairly similarly with God. If you get to know the Person first, fall in love with the Person, then lifestyle changes don't seem such a big deal, in fact they seem obvious. Try and make those same changes before you know the Person and you will just end up resenting it. It's called religion and it stinks. Relationship is not about what you do or don't do, it's about who your with.
The amazing thing is that God, the perfect Father was so deteremined to make it possible for you and me to get to know Him, that He took it on Himself to remove the obstacles between us.
People often question some of the rules and practises in the Old Testament and struggle to reconcile them with the loving Father I am describing now. All those strange rules about food and clothing, all those strange practises of segregating people, all that destruction of people, cities and nations are all designed to show how serious our rebellion against God is. God is prefectly holy, which means He is 100% perfect in every way, not that He is a prude who never does anything wrong (or fun). Every rebellion against His perfection is an absolute affront to His perfection and so He commanded the things we see in the Old Testament to show just how serious this is. But amazingly, God then sent His own son as the ultimate substitute for us.
All of God's correct fury and anger against us, all the fury and anger that wiped out cities with fire and brimstone, all the fury and anger than wiped out the world in a flood, all the fury and anger that wiped out whole people groups was poured out on Jesus. Is it any wonder that it says Jesus became deeply distressed and said "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" as He prayed in the garden anticipating His death. His apprehension related more to the anticipation of God's fury more than the physical agony! As Jesus died on the cross it is recorded that he cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". This was not a question but a cry of anguish as the full weight of God's anger vented against him and he died.
The point of all this is that becasue Jesus did this, God's anger against all rebellion is now fully satisfied. The penalty has been paid in full, the 'time has been served', justice has been done and been seen to be done. In fact God would be unjust if He was still angry. The only things left for us to do is to accept this free offer and to begin to rebuild the relationship.
Obeying rules is the lowest form of relationship that exists - I do what you say to avoid unpleasant consequences - in fact it stretches the term relationship to extremes. In normal human relationships we adjust our behaviour out of respect or affection for another person and their sensibilities. When I first met my wife, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I'd made a bed in my life, but becasue she is a tidy person, I have adjusted my behaviour to such an extent, that I now even make the bed when she is away. She didn't stipulate that I had to do this, I just learned what made her happy and changed.
It works fairly similarly with God. If you get to know the Person first, fall in love with the Person, then lifestyle changes don't seem such a big deal, in fact they seem obvious. Try and make those same changes before you know the Person and you will just end up resenting it. It's called religion and it stinks. Relationship is not about what you do or don't do, it's about who your with.
The amazing thing is that God, the perfect Father was so deteremined to make it possible for you and me to get to know Him, that He took it on Himself to remove the obstacles between us.
People often question some of the rules and practises in the Old Testament and struggle to reconcile them with the loving Father I am describing now. All those strange rules about food and clothing, all those strange practises of segregating people, all that destruction of people, cities and nations are all designed to show how serious our rebellion against God is. God is prefectly holy, which means He is 100% perfect in every way, not that He is a prude who never does anything wrong (or fun). Every rebellion against His perfection is an absolute affront to His perfection and so He commanded the things we see in the Old Testament to show just how serious this is. But amazingly, God then sent His own son as the ultimate substitute for us.
All of God's correct fury and anger against us, all the fury and anger that wiped out cities with fire and brimstone, all the fury and anger than wiped out the world in a flood, all the fury and anger that wiped out whole people groups was poured out on Jesus. Is it any wonder that it says Jesus became deeply distressed and said "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" as He prayed in the garden anticipating His death. His apprehension related more to the anticipation of God's fury more than the physical agony! As Jesus died on the cross it is recorded that he cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". This was not a question but a cry of anguish as the full weight of God's anger vented against him and he died.
The point of all this is that becasue Jesus did this, God's anger against all rebellion is now fully satisfied. The penalty has been paid in full, the 'time has been served', justice has been done and been seen to be done. In fact God would be unjust if He was still angry. The only things left for us to do is to accept this free offer and to begin to rebuild the relationship.
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