As a child, I think I had a fear of God, maybe not a healthy, right fear, but it was fear, nonetheless. I lost that fear when all I concentrated on was how loving God is. We hear it everywhere in Christian circles, and rightly so, “God is love.”
But, I’m getting an inkling of what C.S. Lewis meant in his Narnia series when he writes about Aslan (who represents God/Jesus if Jesus came to a world as a lion):
Susan: “Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
Mrs. Beaver: "That you will, dearie, and no mistake, if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
And what Bonhoeffer means when he refers to God has severe.
God is scary, He’s big, He’s … I don’t have words.
He leaves you to sit in the results of your choices. He is the god of the old testament, the old covenant. He can be, seemingly, mean.
He is fearful with a capital F.
But there’s more, and I know there’s more, and it ends in love spelled J E S U S. But, right now, I’m learning about His bigness and His scariness. I’m learning to fear-- and it's not a bad thing.
In fear and hope,
k8t
k8t(at)faceofagirl(dot)com
----
Please include the following statement on any distributed or linked copy: By Kaet Johnson. © faceofagirl.com. Website: faceofagirl.com
2 comments:
Well said as usual.
The topic of what hell is came up at our bible study and I've been thinking about it since.
The God of Fear in the Old Testament is the God of Punishment. If you are sinful and don't repent you are punished with hell. The people at the time needed this message.
I bounce back and forth between the Old and the New. Lately, I've been thinking more New Testament. God is Love, as embodied by Jesus. Jesus shows us the mind of God and I think we can take our queue from him. He does not force us to follow. Quite the contrary, he tells how tough it will be. It is our choice to conform ourselves to his will and, in so doing, loving one another.
In this plane of existence, we are surrounded by God, we choose how much of his grace penetrates into our life. Either a little or a lot.
To that end, I think of hell as the complete absence of God and his Grace. No beauty. No truth. No love. Nothing. Yet, it is our choice to make that happen.
Keep up the writing.
Hi Tim,
Reading Bonhoeffer right now, "Life Together."
He has a gift for words and brevity as well as wisdom, you might enjoy it. He pulls some solid concepts together in an unforgettable way. Small little book with big impact.
He has no problem handling all of God's attributes.
Post a Comment