Is God half-hearted?
Dear Friends,
While at the Northern Men’s Convention last week (a men’s convention in the north, that is, not a convention for northern men!), I was reflecting on the fact that I am so often somewhat half-hearted in my devotion to the Lord and my desire to give my life in serving him – looking for the minimum I can get away with, rather than the maximum I can do for, and give to, the Lord? I was reminded that, at the CYFA Venture where I was first a leader, we routinely had what was called the Wholeheartedness talk. It had the obvious aim of encouraging the young people to be wholehearted in their Christian lives – a message the leaders usually needed to hear as well!
I began musing on what things would be like if God was half-hearted. What if, when God had made the world and saw all that he had made, realised some of it wasn’t all that good, but said to himself, “Nevermind, that will do”? What if, when God gave his Son to die for our sins, he didn’t quite pay for every one of them, but left us to pay for some of them for us to pay ourselves? What if, when God welcomes us into heaven, we discover that there’s still a little death, a little mourning, a little crying and a little pain?
Ludicrous though those ideas may sound, don’t we often live our lives as if God isn’t as wholeheartedly good as he really is? How can I be half-hearted in my love for the Lord when he has been so whole-hearted in his love for me?
Chris Hobbs,
Vicar.