The God who gives all
Here is an excerpt from a book I was reading recently. This passage made me wanna stand up on the table in the coffee house where I was reading and have church right there!
A pastor I know recalls a Sunday morning Bible study at his church when the text under consideration was Genesis 22. God commands Abraham to take his son, Isaac and offer him in sacrifice on Mt. Moriah
(side note for folks unfamiliar with the story: God stops Abraham from killing Isaac and then provides a ram for him to use instead).
After the group read the passage, the pastor offered some historical background on this period in salvation-history, including the prevelance of child sacrifice among Canaanites. The group listened in awkward silence.
Then the pastor asked, "But what does this story mean to us?"
A middle aged man spoke up. "I'll tell you the meaning this story has for me. I've decided that me and my family are looking for another church."
The pastor was astonished, "What? Why?"
"Because, the man said, "when I look at that God, the God of Abraham, I feel near a real God, not the sort of dignified, business-like, Rotary club God we chatter about here on Sunday mornings. Abraham's God couldd blow a man to bits, give and then take a child, ask for everything from a person, and then want more. I want to know that God."
The child of God knows tha graced life calls him or her to live on a cold and windy mountain, not on the plain of reasonable, middle-of-the-road religion.
For at the heart of the gospel of grace, the sky darkens, the wind howls, a young man walks up another Moriah in obedience to a God who demands everything and stops at nothing. Unlike Abraham, he carries a cross on His back rather than sticks for the fire...Like Abraham, listening to a wild and restless God who will have his way with us, no matter what the cost.
This is the God of the gospel of grace. A God, who out of love for us, sent the only son He ever had wrapped in our skin. He learned how to walk, stumble and fell, cried for His milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross and died whispering forgiveness to us all.
-Brennan Manning, "The Ragamuffin Gospel"
(Side note: I find it absolutely humbling and awesome at the same time that while God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Issac, God Himself follwed through, sacrificing His son [HIMSELF], to end all sacrifice and provide the only avenue any of us will ever need to come close to God as our own Father, Maker and Companion).
A pastor I know recalls a Sunday morning Bible study at his church when the text under consideration was Genesis 22. God commands Abraham to take his son, Isaac and offer him in sacrifice on Mt. Moriah
(side note for folks unfamiliar with the story: God stops Abraham from killing Isaac and then provides a ram for him to use instead).
After the group read the passage, the pastor offered some historical background on this period in salvation-history, including the prevelance of child sacrifice among Canaanites. The group listened in awkward silence.
Then the pastor asked, "But what does this story mean to us?"
A middle aged man spoke up. "I'll tell you the meaning this story has for me. I've decided that me and my family are looking for another church."
The pastor was astonished, "What? Why?"
"Because, the man said, "when I look at that God, the God of Abraham, I feel near a real God, not the sort of dignified, business-like, Rotary club God we chatter about here on Sunday mornings. Abraham's God couldd blow a man to bits, give and then take a child, ask for everything from a person, and then want more. I want to know that God."
The child of God knows tha graced life calls him or her to live on a cold and windy mountain, not on the plain of reasonable, middle-of-the-road religion.
For at the heart of the gospel of grace, the sky darkens, the wind howls, a young man walks up another Moriah in obedience to a God who demands everything and stops at nothing. Unlike Abraham, he carries a cross on His back rather than sticks for the fire...Like Abraham, listening to a wild and restless God who will have his way with us, no matter what the cost.
This is the God of the gospel of grace. A God, who out of love for us, sent the only son He ever had wrapped in our skin. He learned how to walk, stumble and fell, cried for His milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross and died whispering forgiveness to us all.
-Brennan Manning, "The Ragamuffin Gospel"
(Side note: I find it absolutely humbling and awesome at the same time that while God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Issac, God Himself follwed through, sacrificing His son [HIMSELF], to end all sacrifice and provide the only avenue any of us will ever need to come close to God as our own Father, Maker and Companion).
Comments