Introspection: Well Pleased?

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Well Pleased?

And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Mark 1:11 (NRSV)

He loves us!

Oh how He loves us!

From "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan

I have walked a long way on my journey of faith, but, despite everything I've experienced, I still have doubts.

Rarely do I ever doubt the existence of God.  I figure that there must be a reason for everything we see around us.  The big bang theory, the theories of evolution, and other such scientific theories can explain how it all came to be, but it cannot explain why it all came to be.  I simply cannot imagine that there was not some creative force at work through it all.

My doubts are not about the existence of God but rather the goodness of God.  Sometimes I struggle to believe the good things I've been taught about God, the same good things I try to teach others.  Sometimes I struggle to believe that God really loves us - or rather, that God really loves me.

Lately I've realized that I need to rethink my source of self-worth.  A few days ago, during my time of morning prayer, I spent some time trying to meditate on the following words: "You are My child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  According to the Gospels, a voice from heaven - the voice of God the Father - said words like these to Jesus, the incarnate Son, on the day of His baptism.  I've been taught that one meaning of the Christian sacrament of baptism is that what God said to Jesus is true of us as well, that we too are beloved children of God, with whom God is well pleased.

Do these words really describe how God feels about humanity?

All my life, I was taught that God loves each and every one of us, but somewhere - probably my fundamentalist Christian school - I got it into my head that God's hatred for sin far outweighs God's love for us.  Given what I was taught, what other conclusion was I supposed to reach?  Why else would Jesus have to come to earth and die just to get God to forgive us?  Why else would God turn away from God's own Son while He bore the sin of humanity on the Cross?  Why else does a vast majority of humanity still end up burning in hell for eternity, despite Jesus' sacrifice?¹

God was "well pleased" with Jesus, but Jesus was without sin.

I am sinful, so I am problematic to God.

How can God truly love me?

We play a lot of semantic games with the word love.  For example, I've heard people say, "You don't have to like everyone, but you have to love everyone."  In this case, does the word love really mean anything more than not hating someone?

Do we even have any idea what the word love means at all?

I wonder if, when many of us say that God loves us, what we really mean is that God puts up with us.  We're far too sinful to hope for any more.

What if the words that God the Father said to Jesus on the day of His baptism really are true about each of us - that each of us is a child of God, that God loves each of us, and that God is well pleased with each of us?

What if God doesn't merely put up with us?

What if God actually delights in us?

What if God's hatred for sin is secondary to God's love for us?  Better yet, what if God's hatred for sin is rooted in God's love for us?  It has been said, "God hates sin, not because of what it does to Him, but because of what it does to us."²  In other words, like any good parent, God hates the things that hurts God's children.  Jesus, the Son of God, did not have a problem with "sinners" - the tax collectors and prostitutes - He had a problem with the fundamentalists who would not accept them.  He compared God to a shepherd of a very large flock who searched far and wide for one missing sheep and to a father who threw a welcome-home party for his wayward son without even listening to his apology.³

It all seems too good to be true, but I've heard that, when it comes to God, if an idea seems too good to be true, it's close to the truth.⁴


Notes:

1. I no longer believe these things, but the trauma caused by such teachings still remains.
2. A. James Bernstein.  Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity.  2008, Conciliar Press.  p. 259
3. Luke 15
4. Greg Boyd.  "Escaping the Twilight Zone God."  Woodland Hills Church, 05/05/2013.

The photograph featured in this introspection has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.