Remember that Twilight Zone spin off show from the 1980s called Amazing Stories? It was weird and the special effects were horrible. (I know because I just looked it up on YouTube and can’t believe how bad it is. Don’t do it. Trust me.) I loved that show when I was a kid. Funny how things change when you throw 30 plus years in the middle.There was one episode where a group of teenagers found a highly annoyed leprechaun. He wanted nothing to do with the kids so he granted them three wishes but also sabotaged them. I have no idea where my car keys or purse are at this exact moment but I can clearly recall this ridiculously goofy show. It has to be because it influenced my theology. A lot.
For many childhood and teen years, that was my view of God. He couldn’t be completely trusted. I always seemed to be bothering him. I would never be good enough for him so I followed at a distance unworthily trying to keep up and do what I needed to do to keep him happy.
Jesus was there but he was a bit player, definitely not the star of my story because I had the lead role. What I did. What I said. Where I showed up on Sunday morning. What and how I believed. That is what mattered. Following didn’t mean changing the world, it meant checking in to a building a few times a week. It had very little to do with how I treated my neighbor or served the poor.
My doctrine was much more about how I worshiped instead of who I worshiped. My theology was based in, on and around fear, not Jesus. This kind of Christianity was depressing, overwhelming, impossible and a walking on egg shells religion. And because my view of God was so skewed, I was miserable.
That is no way to follow the Savior. And that may be where you are right now but God isn’t a Father who looks for ways to be disappointed in us. He isn’t trying to sabotage us. He isn’t out to get us. He isn’t expecting us to read between the lines or try to figure out his will for our lives. He isn’t against us. And we definitely aren’t bothering him.
Your Father in Heaven delights in you. He sings over you. He wants you to find your happiness in his holiness. He created a perfect life for us with no danger, disease or death. We spoiled that yet out of great love, he rescued, redeemed and restored the damage we invited in and he did it through Jesus.
If your view of God has been damaged by your own brokenness, the media or even well meaning Christians, I invite you to give God another look. He paid the debt for our sins and invites us home. The Creator of the Universe wants to call us his children and that is the most amazing story.