Categories: spiritual-journey
Tags: God Stuff
Date: 22 July 2009 14:03:33
The Premier e-mail update I got in my inbox this morning contained a link the post, Good-enough God? by Rob Waller on the Mind and Soul blog which is exploring Christianity and Mental Health.
The theme of the post is the parenthood of God. It's an interesting theme which I looked at a little in the session I did on the retreat when I was focusing on what it meant to be a child of God. Both Waller's article and what I was saying in my session bought in the fact God is a perfect parent and as such he needs to let us mature by letting us grow. I wasn't going to share my talk, but as it connects strongly with this article I'm going to. One thing I need to point out though is when it uses the language of changing behaviours I am v. much talking as a parent. I didn't realise until later that this was an unhelpful language to use in relation to LGBT people and so please take it in the way it was intended. I am using it purely in relation to "parenting" language. It was based around 1 John 2:28 - 3:3. Also when I refer to GCN that is just because it was the group I was on retreat with...those of you not part of GCN can remove the reference but you might want to replace it with some other network you're part of.
We are going to be looking at what it means to be God’s children. In the reading we begin in chapter 2 vs 28 seeing the image of children being used as a metaphor. The Johannine writer is addressing his audience as little children. This indicates that they still have lots to learn. I don’t know about you but when I entered nursery I knew how to play, eat and scream but very little else. I had lots to learn. I needed to learn who I was, my identity and how I was supposed to behave in a range of situations. Thinking back to when my daughter was small she would sometimes come out with a mild swear word she had heard but didn’t know the meaning of and to be honest it was funny, but had she been allowed to think it was ok in the same situations when she was older it would just have been very embarrassing. I needed to help her become confident in behaving appropriately in different situations.
I believe this is the first thing that the writer is conveying in this passage. He wants us to abide in God so we can learn from him and become confident in how to behave appropriately. Learning how to behave in a holy and righteous manner is something that gives confidence rather than making us ashamed or embarrassed. However, just like little kids learning to do things, it doesn’t come over night. It is a process of maturing.
As we move into chapter 3 we see that the writer moves from using the imagery of us as children from metaphor to fact. In doing this he takes us away from the learning aspect and onto the relational element of being a child. Now, I know this relational aspect is something that some people struggle with. Human relationships are marred by sin and some parent / child relationships are painful or even non-existent. However, God is not like that...God is the perfect parent who will never leave or disown us. We are children of God, truly loved by him. We don’t know where our relationship with him will lead but we do know that because of that relationship we share some of the same attributes as him. That doesn’t mean that we can become God, but it does mean we can share some characteristics with him...we are made in his image.
I don’t know if anybody has seen the film Wildchild. It’s a chickflick where a teenager is out of control and gets packed off to boarding school by her father. It turns out that the school was the same one as her late mother attended, but the girl doesn’t know. It is only as she begins to mature and settle into the school that she finds out her mum went there. As this happens she begins to display the characteristics that make her father comment on her likeness to her mum when he comes to visit.
So the second thing which the writer wants us to see is that because we are in relationship with God and made in his image we will begin to mirror some of his characteristics.
As we move onto verse three we can see that one aspect of the father we seek to mirror is purity. This brings the first two elements together. Purity is an aspect of the father which we mirror, but it is also something which has to be developed. To be pure we need to purify ourselves. It is not referring to a one off act of purification, rather in this verse it is talking in the present continuous tense. We need to be constantly purifying ourselves in order to develop this aspect of our father’s character. Another way of putting it is we need to be constantly working towards holiness. We are in relationship with God through his grace and that can’t be taken away because we are his children. However, in working towards purification and holiness we are seeking to develop a character more like his.
So what does purification involve? Well, the Collins dictionary tells us to purify ourselves mean to free something of harmful or inferior matter or to free a person from sin or guilt. So purification means not only looking at our lives and working out if there is anything in it which is harmful and seeking to move on from that. It also means freeing ourselves from guilt. Therefore, we need to look at our behaviours, our motivations and our emotions to see what might need to change if we are to mirror our father more. As I said before though, the bible indicates this is a continuous process not just a one off thing. This means that we shouldn’t get wrapped up in more guilt if purification takes time. Just like little children we will make mistakes but we will also change and mature as we grow. Little children need parents, friends and teachers to support them and help them grow and so we too need others around us to help us become purified. We are in relationship with God, the father and he will help us change, through his spirit. However, we also need to be ready to let other people support us in that process of purification and change aswell. That’s where GCN comes in, it’s where our churches come in and where our friends come in. It might also for some be where counsellors or medical professionals come in aswell. Sometimes growth and purification comes just from spending time hanging out with those we are in relationship with but sometimes it takes a little more effort.
Whatever, this passage promises that because we are children of God we can have confidence and live pure lives, mirroring the characteristics of our father.