Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
Philippians 2:12 NLT
One of the passages that stuck with me most from the Chronicles of Narnia is when Mr. Beaver responds to Lucy, saying of Aslan: “Safe?… Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Lucy was like me, thinking that if she was to appear before this King that was also a Lion, surely he must be safe- right? How could people go before him if he wasn’t safe? As seen above Mr. Beaver set her straight, one doesn’t need to be safe in order to be good.
There is some discussion as to whether Mr. Lewis meant this as a metaphor for Jesus or whether he was just writing a scene for a children’s book without a deep metaphorical undertone. Regardless of whether it was intended or not I think it makes a great metaphor for God.
As people we tend to like categories, they make life easier! We make categorization systems for people, plants, food, books, countries- you name it! Usually we want it to fall into a system that looks like this; either it’s right or wrong, either good or bad, etc.. We like bilateral systems. We don’t tend to like gray areas of great complexity- isn’t that why subjects like politics get so controversial? What important, deep subjects in life can be easily reduced to black and white?
We do the Same thing with God. We want to categorize Him, so we say, there’s the judgemental God of the Old Testament, and then there’s the loving God of the New Testament- as if the most complex Being in the whole world could be simplified down into those 2 simple categories. Preposterous! He is loving, He is good, He is also the ultimate Judge.
In Church we tend to do a before and after; the Old Testament God is a righteous and judgemental God, the New Testament God is a kind and loving God. But God didn’t change His personality- He doesn’t change! He is a righteous and judgmental God, He is also so kind and loving that He sent his only Son to die so that we can be saved! Let us not mistake that kind of amazing love for safeness though. We must choose to love Him first and foremost in our lives or else we waste the precious gift of His son to us, and if we do that there will be eternal consequences.
No, He isn’t a safe God, but He is a good God. Therefore let us come before Him with the right attitude of awe and humility befitting His majesty, and let us worship Him.
Read more Sunday Scripture here