I read the Preface of Hearing God (HG) last night, and was struck by a certain premise on which Willard is basing his book - that ultimately we are created specifically to have a relationship with God (10). I don't think that this is something that I often overlook, but I think what I do often miss is the TYPE of relationship God designed this to be. I often think of my relationship to God as one either of parent/child or of master/servant. While this is not an erroneous view of that relationship, it can lead to an erroneous view of what God wants from us. I will admit that I tend to look at God as having a "to-do" list for my life. He gives orders; I follow them. But there is a much deeper relationship God seeks to build with men.
Willard focuses in the Preface on the friend/friend nature of the God/man relationship. Note the following passages:
Ex 33:11 - where God speaks with Moses "face to face, as a man speaks to His friend"
Ps 23 - I never really paid attention before to the constant side by side presence of God in this psalm, and this made me realize that I tend to think of God like a distant relation - someone who cares for me but is ultimately far removed from my day to day situation
Going back to the master/servant relationship, Willard notes that even if I were to DO everything God commands explicitly in scripture, I may still not BE the person He wants me to be (11). He follows by citing what I think is a fairly unpopular parable with both the Pharisees and the modern day church - Luke 17:7-10. I would summarize this parable by saying that it is a reminder to us as servants that when we do the will of God, we do only our basic duty, yet we expect to be rewarded as if we have done something above and beyond what we are capable of. It makes me think of writing a C paper and complaining because I wasn't given an A. (Willard says that this parable will be part of the foundation of the entire book).
The final note that I made from my reading last night was Willard's point that merely "doing" actually limits our spiritual growth. I think we as humans seek the easy route to the perfect life, and as Christians we are no different. Give me a checklist of all that I have to do to fix everything. Willard's reminder in the preface is that God wants more from us than obedience. Yes, we have a list of do's and don't's to follow, but these are absolute basics. If we want a true spiritual life, we cannot just DO it, we must learn to also BE it.
I am left with one final question which I technically think is totally unanswerable in this life - why would God choose us as friends?
1 comment:
ahh... God as friend. I think of Jesus as my friend but i don't always remember that Jesus is God. It is also difficult for me to broaden my relationship with God beyond Master/father... but He is also Jesus... savior shepherd friend. I am sure this glitch in my thinking is from programming of religious thinking as a child. Don't get me wrong... this programming, for me anyway, kept me safe through life. at least until i came to a thinking / questioning age. An age when i needed to know something more than a one dimensional superior being. I am glad that my friend , God, desired to nudge me to a more intimate knowing of Him. He is nudging me even now at 50... sometimes i wonder if he is "screaming" for me to come closer... probably the one screaming is me... and probably i am the one that needs to move closer to Him.
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