Emotional God
Jarod,
I agree with you, balance is the key to maintaining a healthy existence. Achieving balance is a delicate task, especially since you and I both like extremes from time to time!
Your e-mail brought to mind how the Church often tries to identify Herself as a balancing agent of morals within culture, taking extreme positions away from pleasures that could lead to sin. I believe that personally modeling a life of balance is more important than trying to tip the social moral scales, but I see the merit of the latter.
Lately I've been thinking about God's emotions, "How does God feel about me?" There are theological answers to that question - God so loved the world...(God is) slow to anger, abounding in love - I know that God loves me, but I am wondering if there are more layers.
I know that God can love me and be angry with me. God loves the masses of people that reject Him and His love, but I also believe He is angry with them and punishes them.
Along the same lines, I think God can love me without trusting me. If I break God's trust, I have to earn it back again - by proving it good. Of course one can never truly "earn" God's trust, but I believe He means for us to try. Men are given talents and are told to be faithful with those gifts. I get the feeling that there can be sore spots between God and I when thinking about certain, recurring disobedience in a particular area.
God can love me and not feel like communicating with me. Sometimes in order to strengthen a friendship, there needs to be a level of distance. This helps keep the relationship healthy and growing. I have an easy time believing that God can love me and keep me at a distance, because I do that so often to others. He may choose to communicate strongly with other people in my life, but leave me out for a while. Of course I know that in the end we will be reconciled.
God can love me and also like me. I like to think that I can make God laugh. I like to think that I can make God proud. To please the King, and also be noticed by Him, is a thrilling thought. God is a being who experiences emotions, when I remember that I sometimes look up and wonder what He is feeling right now.
See you in a few days,
Dave
