The heavens show forth
Endless creative beauty
Of Almighty God

Observe the hand of God my child
How firm it is beneath thy feet
His hand so strong and steadfast sure
Imparting peace that is so sweet

Observe the hand of God my child
How gently holds He thy tender heart
Making fast the great boundless love
That will never from you depart

The thing about family is, its relationships are neither temporal nor conditional. If you are the son of your father, you will always be your father's son. Unlike friendship, citizenship, and work relationships, all of which can cease to be true after a given amount of time, or under certain conditions, family is always true, whether acknowledged or not.

In most religions, membership comes with conditions, and salvation is one or lost based on how well you meet them. But Christianity is different. Christianity is Family. And not just any family, but one with a perfect Father, and a perfect first born Son.

When salvation is granted by a request made in faith, we are born spiritually into this perfect family. We become sons and daughters (Ga 4:6, Ro 8:14). And never, through action or inaction (Ro 8:38-39) can that relationship ever change. It is as immutable as the very word of God Himself (Mt 5:18).

We may play the prodigal, but even whilst the wayward son was frittering away his inheritance (Lu 15:13), he was still his fathers son, and like the prodigal, those of us who use unwisely the gifts we have as the children of God, though we return crying that we are unworthy to be called sons and daughters, always will He take us into His arms and declare that His child has come home (Lu 15:20-24).
 

Through the course of living and relating to God, God teaches you things. Lately, He has been teaching me about Himself, teaching me to view Him as a Person not a Concept. In the course of this post I'd like to try and explain why this concept is important to me, and some of the impact it has on life as a Christian.

The principle is that you have to approach your relationship with God much like you approach relationships with other people. It is a concept I knew but didn't, and still don't to some degree, fully understand. When you relate to God as a person, obedience becomes something you do for Him, because you want Him to be pleased with it, and because the sacrifice is pleasant because it’s for Him.

I've experienced that kind of feeling when doing things for people I care about, giving gifts, doing favors. Many times, especially in the recent past, with God, obeying Him felt like something I was doing for me, as a way of improving my character or becoming a better person. And so, when my feelings would change, obedience would become less important, because the motivation for obedience had become self improvement, not pleasing someone I loved, in this case God.

God (though not all the time since I've known Him) sometimes feels more like a concept I hold than a person I Know. With people there is mystery, hidden parts of them to discover, unknowns. The unknowns are important because they give rise to hope. Hope in new pleasures to be had with someone, new things to learn about them, new ways to share and demonstrate affection and love. I can plan a gift and enjoy the giving, partly because I know the likes and dislikes of the person, but partly because I'm not sure how much they will like it. The anticipation of a person’s response is important, and can't be had without mystery. Concepts hold little mystery, but people hold much mystery, because People change, they grow, they add knowledge and experience to who they are.

Though God doesn't change, there is still mystery, because the depth of His Personhood is so great, no man could ever hope to plumb it in a lifetime.

So I have been struggling to turn my concept of God into a Person, and in the process of doing that, it became harder to live with sin and it became harder to continue the kind of relationship I currently had with him. So I became pensive, because as God became more of a person in my mind, I wanted to talk to Him less and less, knowing I was walking on His feelings. This, in a weird way, is actually a good thing, because a wall is breaking, and now I’m feeling consequences I hadn’t felt before.

There now exists a battle in my soul, the kind spoken of by Paul in Romans 7. Like Paul, there is no doubt in my mind which side will win. I should note that the battle existed before, but always there existed a lie, that I could play both sides, and the consequences wouldn't be too great to bear. The pain of existing in my previous state of tension was not great enough to demand change. I could maintain a relationship with God that was nominal, and still sin some, and the emotional consequence of that was bearable, at least, it was less painful to bear than the effort required leaving the sin completely.

Now, the pain of continuing hurts more, the battle is more distinct. The value of God, and having Him as a friend I know and relate to, like I sometimes relate to my roommate, or sometimes relate to my father, or pastor, or brother. Knowing my actions impact His feelings, provides a strong reason to act, to obey, to give Him presents, to make my loyalty and devotion evident.

Concepts provide no such reasons, no such motivations.

 

I've had Grace on my mind. Its Jonathan's fault really. He got me talking about Les Miserables, and that started me thinking about the rich imagery portrayed in the play, how Jean Valjean and Javier so epitomize the difference between the Covenant of the Law and the Covenant of Grace.

Sometimes... When i think about it. I get that feeling. you know the one? I have to stop what i'm doing, and pause for a moment. Because my eyes start to get warm, and emotion wells up from my stomach in a rush. Because Grace is that powerful. Its so rich.

I wish I was better at explaining it to people. I think about my own life, and consider my failures. Because there are so many. A world full of sinners, and a God so holy even the smallest mistake is enough to render us unworthy to even be in His presence. And I consider a love so deep, His love, that it wasn't enough just to let us fall away, punished righteously. He created me, knowing I would fail, and then gave up His own life for me.

Valjean was a man beaten by the law. you can't win against it. Its harsh, unyielding and it doesn't matter why you did what you did. The law doesn't care. The law doesn't forgive. The law has no mercy. The law made Valjean bitter, and though he was a prisoner for stealing bread to feed his starving family, he served 20 years.

But Grace. Grace cares. It cares more for you than it does for itself. The Law made Valjean a thief, stealing silver from the one man who had shown him kindness. And that man, a man who understood Grace, being wronged, did not just forgive, but gave of himself beyond anything that could be required. An act inexplicable really. Grace is inexplicable. Grace extends mercy when mercy doesn't make sense. Grace loves the loveless. Grace will take a man who is bitter, angry, and broken, and make him like itself. Grace made Valjean an honest man, a man who would sacrifice himself on the behalf of others. A man who would know love, who would extend mercy to his greatest enemy, and who would give his life in exchange for the happiness of those he cared about.

And that Grace. It has been extended to us. to me. to you.