God Is Good.

The prayer at dinner time in my house growing up was "God is great, God is good, give us Lord our daily bread, Amen". We say it still when my niece and nephew are with us for dinner.  During phases of my life I said it with meaning, but most of the time I said it out of habit.

In chapter two, James Bryan Smith, seeks to paint the picture of the true kind, loving God-- the God Jesus knows.
He refers back to the Old Testament, where God is seen as jealous and punitive, punishing the children for the sins of their forefathers. But the story does not stop in the Old Testament, we as Christians believe in Jesus Christ and the New Testament. Jesus, as James Bryan Smith, demonstrates provides a whole new narrative of a loving God. Sadly, so many still see God as the punitive God of the Old Testament.

James Bryan Smith reflects back to a difficult time in his own life when he was challenged with the notion that God was bestoying these difficulties upon him because of his sin.

This left me thinking if I have ever felt this way. All day I have wondered if I ever felt that God was punishing me because of my sin. Truthfully, I can't think of I time I have. (I must have had some good Sunday School teachers).  I've made poor decisions and done selfish acts and wondered what God thinks, but never feared that He will punish me and always known that I can repent. Thankfully, I've never struggled with the image of a vindictive God.

On the other hand, when I do acts of good I sometimes think to myself "I wonder what God will do for me?" Or occasionally in my line of work patient's or family members will say to me "There is a special place in heaven for people like you"... And my head gets a little big as I think to myself "Hmmm, I wonder what God has in store for me for all this poop I'm cleaning up down here?"

Realizing this I was struck by James Bryan Smith's explanation of why this "punishing-blessing God" phenomenon is so popular. We, as humans, like a world we can control; and the idea that if I do good, God will bless me, if I stay out of trouble God will not punish me is very appealing.  This simply isn't true though, the Bible clearly states

"He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:45

So when I feel a creeping thought come to mind like "I wonder how God will pay me back for this one"... I need to replace the story of a God who punishes and blesses based on acts and replace it with the narratives of the man born blind (John  9:2-3), or the Galileans (Luke 13:1-5).  I need to pray to live in Christ and let Christ live in me, because I can't do this alone.