Is Your God Too Tame?

April 22, 2016

Is Your God Too Tame?

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

Thirty years ago I began to realize my understanding of God was way too tame. The preacher Fred Craddock lit the fuse that would eventually explode grace into my life through the writings of Brennan Manning, Henri Nouwen and Miles Stanford. Professor Craddock, in discussing Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, said only the “reckless love of God” can explain leaving the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and to go search for the one that is lost. Reckless was not an adjective I would have applied to God. The more I thought about Craddock’s statement the more I realized my concept of God was way too tame. Perhaps this is why I am enamored with all the marvelous adjectives Brennan Manning uses to describe God’s love for us, such as: furious, passionate, vehement, and aching. (The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning) Manning was inspired by G. K. Chesterton who described the furious love of God as the enormous vitality and strength of God seeking union with us. God seeking union with us! I believe this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

I know God is at work establishing His Kingdom. I know His Kingdom perfectly reflects his nature of justice, mercy and the sanctity of life. I also believe He is adding to His Kingdom one person at a time, as Christ is formed in each and every person. The fruit of Christ being formed in me is my rejoicing in the truth that the One who has a furious longing for me, really is very fond of me! I have come to believe that it is impossible for me to authentically do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) until I know, to the very depths of my being, that the furious longing of my God is seeking union with me.

What adjectives do you use to describe God’s love for you? Has your personal journey seeking the life in Christ as your way of life yet encountered God’s love in a way that Fred Craddock called reckless? Have you yet come to the place where you can say, from your personal experience, “Yes and Amen” with Brennan Manning when he writes of God’s love as, furious, longing, passionate, and aching?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.