My Thoughts on Fenelon, Let God, “To a Religious God-Resister”
I often lay on God the expectation of making me look good. I remind Him that He promised me I would never be put to shame. However, this is vastly different than promising I will never look bad to others.
Never being put to shame has to do with trusting God. When I put my trust in God, He is faithful and will meet me there. However, this does not mean that I can force the hand of God. God is not obligated to respond in a specific way just because I step out. Trust is much different than manipulation.
I have heard people say that we should be so obedient to God as to force Him to show up. I have several problems with this theology. First, God’s promises depend on Him and not us. We can’t say because the Bible says A resulted in B then if I do A, God is obligated to give me B. This is manipulation. The Bible is not a book filled with formulas to make Him work but a book filled with His incredible love and grace.
Second, it implies that God’s faithfulness to us depends on our spiritual attainment. It is only when we achieve certain levels of spiritual attainment that we can count on God to act in our lives. This is performance driven thinking.
Fenelon writes that the way we are to come to God is as a beggar. God hears the cry of the poor and needy. He listens to their plea for mercy. God does not respond because I am deserving but because He loves me deeply. His workings are for His glory and not for mine.
Wanting to look good with others has a lot more to do with self love than it does trust in God. It is a selfish demand as Fenelon notes. He notes that demands such as this help one hold a tight rein on their life and has nothing to do with God and grace.
Desiring glory for myself has to do with pride. I want to look good to others. What I should only care about is that God is being glorified in my circumstances. I should rejoice when I am corrected if it brings God glory rather than whine about looking bad in other’s eyes.
In a final note, Fenelon asks the person he is mentoring to stop reading so many books about love and learn to receive it. He writes that it is pride that causes us to push away the grace of God. I often read books hoping God will change me. I will read books on how to love my husband better and how to do this or that more godly. For me this has a lot to do with wanting to “hit the mark.” I want to honor God in all areas of my life. However, my motives are mixed. Some of the reason I want to get it right is because it makes me feel more spiritually mature and makes me look good.
Lord, I long to truly be more spiritual in the sense of not performing but trusting. I long to live in the place of relationship with you where I receive all you give me in your grace as good no matter how it makes me look with others. Forgive me for pride. Break down pride in my life and teach me to live in dependence on your goodness.
Never being put to shame has to do with trusting God. When I put my trust in God, He is faithful and will meet me there. However, this does not mean that I can force the hand of God. God is not obligated to respond in a specific way just because I step out. Trust is much different than manipulation.
I have heard people say that we should be so obedient to God as to force Him to show up. I have several problems with this theology. First, God’s promises depend on Him and not us. We can’t say because the Bible says A resulted in B then if I do A, God is obligated to give me B. This is manipulation. The Bible is not a book filled with formulas to make Him work but a book filled with His incredible love and grace.
Second, it implies that God’s faithfulness to us depends on our spiritual attainment. It is only when we achieve certain levels of spiritual attainment that we can count on God to act in our lives. This is performance driven thinking.
Fenelon writes that the way we are to come to God is as a beggar. God hears the cry of the poor and needy. He listens to their plea for mercy. God does not respond because I am deserving but because He loves me deeply. His workings are for His glory and not for mine.
Wanting to look good with others has a lot more to do with self love than it does trust in God. It is a selfish demand as Fenelon notes. He notes that demands such as this help one hold a tight rein on their life and has nothing to do with God and grace.
Desiring glory for myself has to do with pride. I want to look good to others. What I should only care about is that God is being glorified in my circumstances. I should rejoice when I am corrected if it brings God glory rather than whine about looking bad in other’s eyes.
In a final note, Fenelon asks the person he is mentoring to stop reading so many books about love and learn to receive it. He writes that it is pride that causes us to push away the grace of God. I often read books hoping God will change me. I will read books on how to love my husband better and how to do this or that more godly. For me this has a lot to do with wanting to “hit the mark.” I want to honor God in all areas of my life. However, my motives are mixed. Some of the reason I want to get it right is because it makes me feel more spiritually mature and makes me look good.
Lord, I long to truly be more spiritual in the sense of not performing but trusting. I long to live in the place of relationship with you where I receive all you give me in your grace as good no matter how it makes me look with others. Forgive me for pride. Break down pride in my life and teach me to live in dependence on your goodness.
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