A disclaimer: I am not a trained pastor. What follows is my personal belief in and understanding of my creator.
I was raised as a Methodist. God was stern, Jesus was distant, and the Holy Spirit was vaporous. The Trinity was something in a book or on the walls of a building. I believed…. but my relationship with God was not anything like a friendship. God was fixed and pretty much 2 dimensional. He was somewhere over there. It never occurred to me that God might have feelings. It would have never occurred to me to explore God’s emotions.
But that is what I’m going to try to do this week.
Examine the closest, best relationships in your life…..your spouse, your children, your closest friends. Then remember that we were created in God’s image. I believe that the finest points of the best relationships in our lives are a pale reflection of God’s relationship to us. So if you want to look into the heart of God…..start by looking at the best relationships in your life.
What are the characteristics of those relationships?
Love
A desire for closeness
We hope that they will find peace and joy……. happiness
We try to share with them the skills that will lead to happiness
We hope that they will choose well
Joy when they succeed…….when they grow
Sadness when they choose badly……when they fail
Sadness when bad things enter their lives
Anger when someone evil harms them
All of these things are gifts to the other person. None of them are self serving. In our modern me-centric culture, it seems counter-intuitive. But, I have often said that the surest path to lasting joy is to give of yourself to another person. This is one of the greatest truths of life…….and it is a reflection of the core teachings of Christianity…… Love God……Love your neighbor. These 2 teachings lead us to joy. And joy is the surest sign of the presence of God.
I believe that this truth is close to the heart of God.
So……to return to the beginning. How does God feel?
Just like a husband….. Just like a wife…….Just like a parent.
God is happy when we succeed and sad when we fail.
He shares in our joy and in our pain.
The trick is that he knows the path to real lasting success……the path to real lasting joy. And it comes from selflessly giving of ourselves to others. This is not the “survival of the fittest”…..claw your way to the top……get more stuff mantra of our culture.
How else do you explain a God……a friend……who would choose to suffer crucifixion solely for our benefit……. solely for my benefit?
God gained nothing from the cross……except for relationship, except for love, and the joy that comes from giving of himself to another.
So………..how does God feel?
Love………I am convinced that a deep abiding love for us…..for me…..is at God’s core.
Joy…….the joy that comes from loving us…….the joy that comes from loving me.
Hope…….that we will choose wisely and grow closer to him…….that we will value our relationship with him as much as he does.
And maybe some sadness too………when we choose badly…….when we turn away from him.
This is the God that I know……my friend. This is the God that I look forward to spending eternity with.
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Jesus, NIV
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Jesus, NIV