What I Write About

I write about the infinite number of intersections between every day life and the good news of the God who has come to get us.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

God, Deals, and Promises

Last week I heard a story about a man who has spent his whole life in full-time Christian ministry. At some point in the recent past his adult daughter had sat down with him over coffee and explained that she was no longer a Christ-follower. She was leaving the faith.

"As I processed this conversation," he said, "I realized that I thought me and God had a deal. I would work for him, and he would take care of my family."

"And it took this conversation for me to realize one startling and important truth: God doesn't make deals. He makes promises."

5 comments:

J. R. Daniel Kirk said...

So, God lied?

Alex said...

see what i have to work with here people?

nyet. the point of the reflection was that this man invented the deal with God. he had to repent of this way of thinking about his relationship with God and begin to re-think it in terms of promises God had actually made, not an imaginary deal that the man had invented.

i think that we think about God in this wrong way all the time.

Alex said...

see what i have to work with here people?

nyet. the point of the reflection was that this man invented the deal with God. he had to repent of this way of thinking about his relationship with God and begin to re-think it in terms of promises God had actually made, not an imaginary deal that the man had invented.

i think that we think about God in this wrong way all the time.

Grayson J. said...

Call me a Calvinist (I am), but one cannot "leave the faith".

You cannot become un-justified and un-regenerated.

You're in it for the long haul (because God chose YOU and started a good work that He will complete) or you were never in it to begin with.

Grayson J. said...

[I know that wasn't the thrust of your post!]