Images of God

I recently summarized a prayer journal from last month, and I came across something that had a significant impact on me.  God and I were talking about marriage and how baptism is the means by which we are espoused to Christ. 

While I was typing the summary, an image came to mind. It was an image of a spouse busily trying to appease the other.  There was a lot of anxiety around the work. There was a lot of fear about not getting it just right. I asked, “God, is this one of those images you use to talk to me?”  All of a sudden I realized that this was an image of how some people are living the spiritual life.  They hastily run around hoping to earn God’s love, forgiveness, generosity, and mercy.  I had this intense feeling that God wanted people to know that he is not an abusive spouse.  Later, I shared this image with a friend of mine.  We pondered how many people believed in a God who judges each and everything we do. How they walk through life in fear of God’s temper and how he might punish them.  They walk through life in fear of an eternity in hell.  

While we were talking, I had a new image, the image of a wife caring for her husband out of love. She did all the cooking, cleaning, and the like as an expression of her love for the spouse. The husband would offer to help, but she told him she had everything under control. Her understanding of love was about taking care of everything for the other.

Both of these images of God fall short because love is not only a voluntary gifting of self to the other out of love, but also the voluntary receipt of the other’s gifting of self. Love of God and neighbor requires that we give and receive. We give because we receive God through a personal encounter that starts us on the path of learning to respond to his love with love.  He gives his love. We respond with love, and the cycle continues for all eternity.  

In this cycle of gifting and receiving, we learn to become one with God. We learn to trust in his love and mercy. We learn that if we forget to do something, choose not to do something, or otherwise fall short, he loves us right where we are.  He wants so much more for us, but he not only accepts us where we are, he stands with us right where we are.  

Our God is the God of peace, love, and joy.  If you find your spiritual life lacking in these, I encourage you to take your image of God to prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where your image is in need of perfection. Then enter into the amazing life long process of allowing him to perfect your image of God.

In Christ,

dw