When i was a boy, more than a few times, in frustration, i would hear my dad say, “Boy, i tell you what, when i get to Heaven, i’ve got some questions for God. My entire life all i’ve heard is what He could have but wouldn’t, might have but didn’t… and He never explains anything.” Although my father never went to church, never read his Bible, never went to any meetings having to do with the Lord at all, nor did he read any books about him, he seemed continually disappointed and bitter towards all things God. i grew up with no knowledge of the Kingdom of God other than messing with the King of Kings was a waste of time unless you wanted to be frustratingly mystified and always disappointed. There was always the implication of “just don’t look to God to help you out. You’ll only be disappointed.” Churches looked to me like rules on top of rules which no one could keep, nor would they want to, in hopes of relating to someone impossible to know or understand. Rule keeping doesn’t gain us a relationship with God who is the very person we need to know above everyone and anything in the universe.
You know, i’ve met Jesus, personally, up close, eye to eye, and all that i learned about God as a boy totally isn’t true. At all. i suppose for my dad’s entire life, the sum total of what he’d been told was how “God is going to get you”, “watch out boy, God will strike you down”, and “you’re just a sinner, boy, and you’ll never be anything more than a poor old nobody, barely scraping into Heaven.”
Well, i have been reading my Bible, and i do go to church, and i avidly read books about the Great I AM. i’m astounded at all the promises of hope, health, healing, connection, and relational redemption the Lord makes. i have not found a world of won’t, don’t, can’t, and shall not’s like many rule keepers keep at their fingertips. Jesus, the Son of God, came to us, in the flesh, and got eye to eye with mankind for the first time ever, and in John 16 all by itself, He gave us a list of “I will”, “I have”, and then explanations of “because”. So much for the idea that God never explains anything, because He does. Anytime Jesus said, “I will”, “I have”, and “that you might have”, it strikes a mood of possibility and potential for us to be involved with the Lord and possess all God promises. The key words are “be involved”, not just keep rules. Remember, it’s not rules to keep but more someone to be. When Jesus said, “because” He was explaining intentions and actions. God is interested in the conversation and He wants us to understand, and because we may NOT understand doesn’t mean His explanation isn’t real. Keep it simple. i really believe we totally over think much of what God said and says, often trying to make it say more than it says. Jesus said “might have” four significant times. That you might have life, that you might have life more abundantly, that you might have peace, and that you might have joy. If we could not possess it, the Lord would not have struck a mood of possibility and potential for us to know we can own and walk in all He says.
We need to know that the Lord works within the amazing boundaries of righteousness, considering He, Himself, is the standard and personification of righteousness, and will not violate Himself to give us evil desires. Jesus said straight away in John 16:1, “I have spoken these things”, then He explains saying “because” or “for the reason of”. He’s saying “i have spoken these things” in the sense of “take note” “pay attention”, and “hear this and don’t miss it.” He admits in vs25 that it’s true, in the past He had spoken in perplexing parables and metaphors, but then He promises, saying, “From here on out, i’m going to be plain with you.” In other words, He really wants us to get what He’s saying, but He also wants us to be interested enough to pursue Him for the understanding of it all, not being lazy children who wait on the parent to just tell them everything, with the children putting no personal investment into their own knowledge and well being. When i was young, occasionally i would ask my mother the meaning of a word. She would tell me “Look it up.” i thought she was being mean, but in her wisdom she was inspiring me to take action and pursue the answer for myself rather than depend on someone else to inform me because i was too lazy.
In John 16 Jesus said “i will”, “i have”, “he will”, and “because”. He leaves us with His personal promise by saying “I will”, and He’s letting us know what is already set in motion with “I have”. He promises us the Holy Spirit who will teach us, and He said, not “IF” He comes, but “when” He comes the Holy Spirit will do this and that. AND….Jesus says why, using “because”, again, meaning, “for the reason of”.
God is not required to explain Himself to anyone at anytime, but He does so as a courtesy, for the reason that He is interested in a dialogical exchange with us and He wants us to grasp what He’s saying. He does, indeed, talk to men, and He truely does regularly offer explanations. Are we interested to listen? There are more far reaching promises of “yes and amen” than the rule keeper’s mindset of “do not”, yet so many people see God as the God of “watch out, be careful, and don’t”, and that’s not His heart at all. Of course, God has boundaries and warns us of potential problems, but we, ourselves, are the ones who often look like the law on two legs to the world around us because we’re always talking about what we don’t, won’t, and all that we’re against. Well, friends, what are you in favor of within the bounds of righteousness, right morality, and Godly ethics? After you have believed Jesus is the Lord, then what are you gonna do? It’s more than fire insurance, and God has an entire world of amazing possibilities and potentials for us, but we do have to be interested in Him enough to pursue His goodness towards us.
What do you think?