One of my very close friends and I talked almost until the sun came up a couple of days ago. He told me of a girl he felt he had fallen for on a mission trip he went on over the winter break. We talked about the possibility of him going back to see her, about how his church would be taking a mission trip in the summer, and how he would think about going on it, but that he didn't want her to be the focus if he does end up going. Of course on the mission trip I agree that God should be the focus, no doubt about that.
At the same time, however, I couldn't help but imagine our Father looking down at us and (should He choose to give my chum the opportunity) cheering him on and rooting for him to fly over there and throw caution to the wind and win his newfound young love. And why not? Why wouldn't God root for love stories, cheer for the underdog, support us running against all odds, ready to break through walls, scouring entire cities at night, in an impossible attempt to find our co-star in the cheesy rom-com/action-dramedy-with-a-heart-of-gold-and-killer-ending about our life? Did he not pull the ultimate rescuing-the-beloved-bride move when he came to get us? He makes Leia's rescue in the Death Star look less exciting than a boyfriend picking up his girl from work. (Maybe she worked overtime and it's kinda late, but still.)
I think God comes off as too serious sometimes, too by the book, too responsible, too overbearing. I think He is serious and He wants us to live responsibly, of course, but I think He is also about some other things, things that may perhaps seem less conventional. Let's face it; this is the same God who had His people follow pillars of cloud and fire in the desert and listen to bushes that were on fire, who unashamedly nestled a book about sex right in the middle of the Bible, who had Samuel come back from the dead as a spirit to tell Saul some bad news (1 Sam 28), who had Abram just go from his home with no idea or plan or anything to believe on but God's promise, who told Joseph to pick up and move Mary and Jesus to Egypt through nothing more than a dream, and countless other random, obscure and totally unconventional things (see + below). I'm sure you can think of some other great examples. The greatest track of all on God's Greatest Hits is of course the masterpiece of all masterpieces, the symphony of symphonies, the cornerstone and completion of all the tracks in His extensive library, about how this same Father, loving the unlovable and the prodigal and the whore, wrapped Himself in human skin to redeem the undeserving, eating and drinking and living with us, then dying and rising for us, telling us to go to every corner of the planet simply to tell everyone about Him and love them like He loved us, unconditionally and till never, ever do we part.
Jon Acuff posted on his blog Stuff Christians Like about taking God seriously. He mentions that his personal tendency has been to take God very seriously, to see Him much more in that light, and seeing Him as the joyful One who sings over our our souls is maybe a bit more difficult for him.
It's the opposite for me. I rarely, if ever, think of the serious side of God before I see His joyful side. He is my kind, loving, and encouraging Father before He is my Master, worthy of my complete service and utter devotion. Obviously He is both; I just lack on the reverence aspect sometimes, which I think is extremely important. To use an (extremely limited and potentially dangerous but hopefully somewhat illuminating) analogy, it might be like if you were best friends with a rock star, but you are such good friends you forget how famous they are sometimes. Or if your best friend's dad is the king of some country, and you go to his palace all the time, and hang out with him and watch football and he makes you and your friend pancakes one weekend a month, you tend to forget he is king of so-and-so country and he is the one who governs and keeps everyone safe and makes everything run smoothly and puts people in jail there, who runs that world. For good measure we'll say he wrote the constitution too. He's a big deal. Anyway, as illuminated in the first few paragraphs, I tend to feel like He would support actions and stories of mine or my friends that may seem foolish or frivolous or foolhardy. His call to us is to make His glory known in all ends of the planet, in every nation, and sometimes foolish and frivolous and foolhardy things are exactly how He plans to spread His love through us. I don't doubt that He authors individual love stories as well, nor do I doubt that He cheers along as one of His bumbling sons rushes off into the sunset to win the girl of his dreams, to find the wife of his youth. (Girls, unfortunately, inherently know, and guys will admit as soon as they look at their wives, that there's divine intervention in there somewhere!)
Ben Stuart of Breakaway said that even how we view Jesus is a gift from God. I guess it's true for the whole Trinity, and none of us see Jesus or the Father or the Spirit perfectly. Not yet at least. He is both to be loved and revered, admired and respected, our Father to watch the game with and our Master to whom we give our lives. He never changes, it's just that none of us can wrap our peanut brains around the whole concept of Him right now. Perhaps, someday, God and us will laugh together about our intellectual ineptitude, about how we are barely more perceptive or intelligent than a jar of applesauce when it comes to fully understanding Him and His ways. Given the fact that He'll always be a million billion light-years sharper than us, however, He might be the only one that really gets the joke...
+On the other hand, He is also the same God who told us to live a quiet life, mind our own business, and to work with our hands (1 Thes 4) and that the best thing a person can do is eat, drink, and find satisfaction in their toil (Eccl 2), among other quiet and conventional advice... these verses are best for when we start to like sizzle and loud, empty emotion over steak and solid worship. (see ++)
++When I said "steak and worship" did you get hungry? I did. Steak at worship is a good idea. When you eat steak isn't it a pretty worshipful experience anyway? I know the entire time I eat a succulent rib-eye there's a constant stream of "Thank You"'s running under my breath...
