God's Not Obligated

Several weeks ago, in talking with someone, I realized a false view of God that has plagued me. I have been planning on writing about it and sharing it here ever since. Today's the day.

It's easy to get caught up in religious behavior, as I have written about here before. In religious circles, we often do things out of a sense of obligation. We operate a lot on guilt and scare tactics such as "I'm not a good Christian if I don't serve enough" or "I'd better not do that or God is going to get me for it!" To look the part of a Christian and thinking we need to keep God (and others) appeased with our efforts, we work hard to do the right things and avoid the wrong things. I discovered that beyond this mess, I actually had allowed myself to view God as being like this as well.

This lie that God helped me see in the conversation with my friend was not so much about operating out of guilt and fear this time, but about the obligatory actions. Since I often do things out of a since of obligation, I had been seeing God as doing the same. If I believe God does what He does out of obligation, I lose the ability to receive love from Him. The one big thing that was hurting me so bad was this lie: "Well, He's God, He HAS to love me". I have heard several others make this comment about their parents loving them, assuming their parents had no choice. God's love is not obligatory love. I'd argue that obligatory love is not love at all. It's based on guilt or fear, or some combination of both. God chooses to love me. Jesus chose to die on the cross. God chose me to be His son. When I ponder the fact that God has made choices, makes choices, and will continue to make choices to offer His love to me, it is simply an awesome perception changer.