Hmm...What's that Now?
Biblically questionable lyric of the week -- from Hawk Nelson: "Oh, you're working way too hard! And this perfection you're chasing, is just energy wasted, cause he (God)love's you like you are!"
I'd like to see the Bible verse where God says, "You guys just keep doing what you're doing cause I love you just like you are." I think God loves us TOO MUCH to leave us like we are. Isn't that like leaving a person bleeding and hurting on the side of the road, telling them to quit dragging themselves to the hospital because you and God love them just as they are? Seems like pressing on to the hospital to see them healed and whole would be real love. Or, as Paul says, in the Bible, "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me." (Phil 3:12)
He further goes on to say, in Colossians 1:28, "So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ." Should we ask Paul why he's bothering with all that if God is fine with how we are already?
Maybe we should even have a sit down with Jesus, who to six of the seven churches in Revelation basically said, "Here is a list of all your problems. These need to be fixed or there will be consequences." Seems like He isn't content with leaving us like we are either.
Instead of singing that God loves us while we hurt and struggle and fall and bleed, let's sing that God loves us not like we are but like we can be through the power of His Holy Spirit...and He is committed to guiding each of us deeper into Himself so we can find perfect healing and wholeness.
The fact is God does NOT love us as we are. No, He loves us much more than that. He loves so much that He is even willing to discipline us and cause us short-term pain, so that we can experience the long-term rewards of holiness. I have seen many episodes of the television show Intervention. On this docu-drama, real people are addicted to illegal drugs, prescription pain meds, alcohol, etc. They have been in rehab again and again, failing one time after another. That's when friends and family intervene. I have never heard a parent on that show say, "I just told my child to quit trying because I love him as he is." No, those parents are heartbroken and want their children to be freed, so they intervene and cause temporary angst and pain to help their child find healing and hope. God is no different. He is heartbroken when we sin and struggle, and He is not content to leave us in that condition. He will intervene. He will give consequences. Not to be mean, but to bring life change. He wants to see us embracing the good, pleasing, and perfect will he planned for us (Romans 12:1,2)
Don't stop short of this. Don't quit striving! God's love is life-transforming, not like-okaying. Don't believe otherwise, no matter what Hawk Nelson says.
