God, Parents and Worth

Love. We have one word in the English language that we use in countless contexts to describe countless sensations. We have one word for what the Greeks had four. I’ve talked about “love” before, but this is a bit different because it’s something that I’ve never felt or thought about before.

This week at church and Life Group we talked about our worth to God, what that means and put it in the context our relationship with our parents. This is really interesting because my relationship with my parents over the years is something that I’ve always either ignored or didn’t think about too much. And then to think if it has influenced how I view God or my relationship with God. I jumped at this to dive into my mind and spirit and see what God wanted me to see, and for once our Life Group questions were more than just surface level thought and challenging.

Okay, what kicked this whole thing off was Todd Proctor talking about worth in God’s eyes. Most, if not all Christians have heard the phrase, “God loves you.” And if you’re anything like me, and apparently Todd, you’ll find that this phrase just kinda’ doesn’t hold the meaning it used to, it’s just a phrase. Well, Todd put “worth” into context, “You are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 2:22) After reading/hearing this, I started thinking about what that means to have God say, “You are my son…I am well pleased.” Wow, and at this, Todd instructed us to picture God saying that of us…and I was like, that’s cool. But that was just the beginning because it opened up what it means to be worth something to God. “For while we were still sinners, Jesus died for our sin.” Sound familiar? If you want to hear the entire sermon, you can download it on Rock Harbor’s website.

Even while and though we are rotten failures, God still made the sacrifice to bridge the gap in the hope that we will take up that cross and be with him! But that’s not all. In this passage from Luke, God is showing himself as a vulnerable “parent” figure, not creator of all existence, but a father. So then tonight in Life Group we were challenged to think about our relationship with our parents. Woh, I’ve never thought about this!

Here are the questions asked:
• How did your parents show you love as a child?
• Did you feel like you had to do anything to earn your parents’ love and approval? If so, what?
• How did this affect the way you approached your parents? How about the way you viewed their love and acceptance?
• How did it affect your actions and your lifestyle?
• Could your relationship with your parents have influenced the way you view God and your relationship with Him? If so, how?
• Do you feel like you need to earn God’s love, or that it’s conditional in any way? If so, what affect has this had upon the way that you approach God? How does this play out in your life?

Holy crap! Okay, at the time when we got these questions in our groups, we were floored. So I really started thinking…way, way back to my younger years…

Okay, so how did my parents show me love? To be really honest, I don’t know or remember really. As a child I took it for granted, “They’re my parents, they have to love me.” With this view, I never really took notice of how they showed me love…except maybe by punishment; my mother has always been a firm believer in “you hurt the ones you love” theology…JUST KIDDING! She has her fun, but she never crosses any lines. Okay, so the more I thought about it, I don’t so much see direct signs of love (lots of time spent with them, hugs or whatever) but rather I saw all the sacrifices they made for all of us. My parents sacrificed a lot for us to have certain things that we didn’t need, but as kids, wanted and “thought” we needed it/them. That’s a big sign of love. And because of my view that they had to love me, I didn’t feel like I had to earn their love.

Although when I hit junior high my perspective changed…I didn’t want their love, I didn’t really want anything to do with them, so I became this punk kid who was mostly nothing more than a pain in their butts. This lasted probably until my junior year of high school or something like that, then I started to grow up and mature and I finally realized how smart and cool my parents were.

I also missed out on the third question because of all this; I never really approached my parents about anything. I thought they were cool and fun and all, but I never really saw them as “friends” or counselors of any kind. But once I started maturing, I saw that they did love me and instead of thinking that they have to love me, I saw that they chose to love me, which really makes it much sweeter.

With all of this changing and developing in my life and my departure for college, I can now look back and see that my parents have had a large influence in my lifestyle and actions. I’ve learned from some of their mistakes so I don’t necessarily get into the same holes and I’ve found that I hold much of the same morals and ethics as they have.

And since they have had such an impact on my lifestyle and actions, it’s a sure bet to say that they have influenced the way I view God and my relationship with him. Though the whole message of the sermon was to illustrate God as Father, I have never really seen him as my father. Even though my dad and I were never really close when I lived there, we are now and I know that my dad isn’t perfect, but the word “father” is an human title…and God is GOD! How could I put a human title on the creator of all existence and time? God is just too big for that. Anyway, back to my train of thought…with how my relationship has developed with my parents, and how much I love them and they love me; God’s love is just infinitely greater. It makes me joyful that he calls me his son and that he loves me so, it’s just hard for me to see him as dad or father because he has blessed me with a great relationship with my parents in the last few years and because I know they aren’t perfect, I don’t want to put an imperfect title on God…he is more than that.

Okay, so I know I’ve jumped around a lot, for that I apologize. My point is…well you know, I don’t really have a point. Take what you will or can out of it. I love my family. I have recently discovered the value of parents and how much I missed out on when I lived at home. I am very stoked about how much I am worth to my parents; that they would sacrifice so much for me; and then God sacrifices his son just so I can cross the bridge and be with him. Wow! Now, this blog is long enough, I shall go to bed now…lates!