What if God's commandments are actually invitations?
Is God morally OCD, looking for excuses to fry us?
Do this. Don’t do that. You’d better… You’d better not… If you will… If you won’t…
Many people see the Bible as a comprehensive (and exhausting) list of moral imperatives. And when they are supposedly issued by God himself—the one who has the power to dole out blessings and punishments based on your compliance—the result can be anything other than relational closeness to the author. So why does God even give us commandments?
Not only is the list impossibly long, it is impossible to live up to. Even when there is a desire to live up to it all, how does one discern the exceptions? (Like, when is it OK to lie, or go to war?) It’s enough to blow your mind! At the very least, it can keep you walking on eggshells.
When obedience doesn’t result in the blessings that were expected (or even promised), how does that affect the desire to continue obeying? Or how about when disobedience does not result in the warned-about consequences? How does that make you feel toward the one issuing the commands?
Things really get messy when we use the commandments as a scorecard for evaluating other people’s lives. (Is that really even our job?) Judgementalism, arrogance, hypocrisy, contempt—the list is long and ugly when we use scripture that way. (And how does that reflect on the God who came up with the rules?)
Is God morally OCD? A kill-joy who is looking for excuses to fry us? Insensitive to our human frailty or indifferent to our best efforts? Or might there be another way of understanding his commandments?
What if, instead of viewing them as prescriptions and prohibitions, we considered them as invitations?
If indeed God is love, and God’s fondest desire is to have us in loving relationship with himself, doesn’t it make sense that he would want to eliminate all barriers that might hinder the fulfillment of that desire?
What if God’s commandments are actually invitations to relationship with himself?
Certain behaviors and actions will harm us, thus affecting our ability to enjoy that relationship. And the more like him we are, the more intimate fellowship we can enjoy with him. Every commandment regarding morality could be an offer to be formed in ways that enhance that fellowship.
And what if—knowing full well our inconsistencies and inabilities—God took it on himself to enable us to live according to his commandments? Now there’s something to ponder…
Big Thumb - that's a new one :) I've heard of an old guy with a bucket full of lightning bolts, but never a thumb! How about a grandfather type with a basket full of blessings he can't wait to distribute...
Oh, yes. For years, I subconsciously thought of Him as a big Thumb in the sky, just waiting to squish me just as I had squished many of the big red ants!! How different from His true nature as a loving Heavenly Father who actually smiles when He sees me!