Christianity

One of the hardest things we face as adults is to separate the implementation or belief in an idea by our parents (and thus, what we are taught as children) and what is really true about the idea. I struggled greatly several years ago with facing my dad's version of Christianity that I grew up with. I became quite sick of myself, sick of what it "required" me to say, do, and be. And so I decided that Christianity was incorrect and that I would not have a relationship with God, for I thought that God was like my dad. I rationalized this decision by emphasizing to myself that He was really an unknown, so how could we be sure of Him anyway?

The Father, in His mercy, had other plans for me, for I don't think He particularly cares for us to continue to walk with incorrect ideas and views of Him. It is one thing to reject God after seeing Who He is (simple rebellion), it is quite another to reject Him because one is misinformed of His character.

After reading The Curate's Awakening by MacDonald in July of last year, I began reading through the gospels with this question: Who is Christ and Who does He reveal the Father to be? Here is the quote from MacDonald that really ignited this in my heart:

"If by [the intellect] we could prove there is a God, it would be of small avail indeed. We must see Him and know Him. And I know of no other way of knowing that there is a God but that which reveals what He is -- and that way is Jesus Christ... Your business... is to acquaint yourself with the man Jesus: he will be to you the one to reveal the Father. Take your New Testament as if you had never seen it before, and read to find out." (The Curate's Awakening, Chapter 6)

What I have found in my reading is that the things about God that I hated are usually the things that He hates too! And the things about God that I longed for were the things that He is. Let me give you another MacDonald quote, my favorite of his:

"In my own childhood and boyhood my father was the refuge from all the ills of life, even sharp pain itself. Therefore, I say to the son or daughter who has no pleasure in the name Father, "You must interpret the word by all that you have missed in life. All that human tenderness can give or desire in the nearness and readiness of love, all and infinitely more must be true of the perfect Father -- of the maker of fatherhood." (The Heart of George MacDonald, as quoted in Wild at Heart)

What I want to emphasize this morning is that much of my struggle with God has been a marred painting of Who He is. It is as if my dad took a Rembrandt, threw paint and dirt all over it and then handed it to me and said, "This is a Rembrandt."

Much of this is captured in my testimony that is posted here (back on March 25th of this year). I emphasize this part because it is essential to take the things we believe and yet struggle greatly with, and look at them carefully, and ask ourselves -- is this true? Do I believe this because it is reality or because it is what I have been taught? And in relation to God, we find the painting of Him by looking at Christ.

"He who has seen me has seen the Father," Christ said in John 14:9. I begin today to share with you what I have learned about Christ by asking you to reflect on the following word that is so descriptive of Him: tender.