I had a unique convergence of thoughts recently. It began while I was listening to Rick Warren’s TED Talk. He made an interesting comment during that talk that set the gears in my head spinning. He said, “When you are being you, it causes God to smile. And it gives God joy.” I had not really thought about that at any length before in all candor. The question as to what gives God joy had never really occurred to me.
There are many reasons for this. Growing up in a very strict ‘turn or burn’, ‘repent or be sent’ wing of the christian faith does not lead one naturally to thinking about the question of joy in relation to God the Father. It leads one more naturally to questions of how to please an angry and vengeful God. And the typical answers to those questions are more focused on developing behaviors that will keep that God at bay and preventing a round of smiting and smoting, rather than thinking about what makes such a God smile, much less laugh.
As I considered this idea, I looked to see if there were any Biblical analogues that put some basis for this concept. I found several fairly easily. The sermon on the mount in Matthew provides more than a few. In the context of asking of God in chapter seven I found this section…
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
The interesting part of this falls along these lines… Who would give their child something evil in place of what they need that is good? And it makes the parallel this way, if you who are evil can pull this off, what do you think God the father is capable of? This section paints God in a unique light. It paints God not as the angry smotter of the Old Testament, but rather as an active and engaged parent of his children. It portrays God as one who tenderly loves, and tenderly gives freely as each of his children has need. At a distinct divergence from the smiting smotter I had grown up with to be sure.
Not one satisfied with building a theology on a singular anthill, I continued to look, and earlier in the same sermon I found another. In chapter six under the heading of Worry…
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[n]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This section adds to the view of God as the father who owns the responsibility of providing for the needs of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. As such, it adds to the narrative that God is in charge and is an active parent. It gives credence to the view that God cares for his children in a more perfect way than the created parents can care for themselves or for their own children.
In view of this, I had to come to the conclusion that God is comfortable with the notion of being seen as not just a parent, but rather THE parent. God is comfortable with all of the requirements of parenting. He prepares for his children’s needs, he plans for their future, and has a solid path for each unique and distinct route they will all take. And understands the various permutations of each.
It really is not a stretch to accept the notion that Mr Warren put forward. If I as a parent take joy in the successes of my children, and allow me to assure you that I do, then it follows that if God views himself to be a more perfect parent than I ever hope to be, then he finds the same joy. It follows that the things that make me smile about the lives of my children, also make Him smile.
It follows further that when my daughter has worked her tail off in basketball, and has an amazing moment on the floor. When she finds herself unguarded and she has the confidence in herself and her ability to attempt a jump shot from twenty feet out, and gets nothing but net in a positive fashion, and that makes me grin from ear to ear in her success. That I am not alone in the moment of grin. That moment is shared with her creator also, and he is just as proud of her as I am, most likely more so.
He knows as well as I do, how hard she has worked. He knows the effort, the practice she has put in. He knows how much it means to her. And he knows that moment when she stopped, and took the risk of taking the shot on her own was a real moment of growth for her. When my daughter realized that taking the shot isn’t just something other players on the team do. When she realized she has the responsibility when on the court to recognize she has the best chance to score in that moment, and she took it, and was successful, my heart was overflowing with joy for her. I was proud of her beyond words. And furthermore, I know I was not alone in that moment.
Realizing the moments in which we dwell, in which we are at one with who we are and we were made to be, gives God the father joy is a powerful realization. The moments when you are doing the ‘stuff’ you were put here to do, in the fashion you were put here to do it, has a larger context to it. It means that if God made you to be a ditch digger, and you live a life of digging ditches and you do that to the best of your ability, it gives God joy. And we should recognize this as being the appointment of the divine to do and to be. And in doing so we fulfill the essential nature of the eternity put in our hearts.
There are many reasons for this. Growing up in a very strict ‘turn or burn’, ‘repent or be sent’ wing of the christian faith does not lead one naturally to thinking about the question of joy in relation to God the Father. It leads one more naturally to questions of how to please an angry and vengeful God. And the typical answers to those questions are more focused on developing behaviors that will keep that God at bay and preventing a round of smiting and smoting, rather than thinking about what makes such a God smile, much less laugh.
As I considered this idea, I looked to see if there were any Biblical analogues that put some basis for this concept. I found several fairly easily. The sermon on the mount in Matthew provides more than a few. In the context of asking of God in chapter seven I found this section…
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
The interesting part of this falls along these lines… Who would give their child something evil in place of what they need that is good? And it makes the parallel this way, if you who are evil can pull this off, what do you think God the father is capable of? This section paints God in a unique light. It paints God not as the angry smotter of the Old Testament, but rather as an active and engaged parent of his children. It portrays God as one who tenderly loves, and tenderly gives freely as each of his children has need. At a distinct divergence from the smiting smotter I had grown up with to be sure.
Not one satisfied with building a theology on a singular anthill, I continued to look, and earlier in the same sermon I found another. In chapter six under the heading of Worry…
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[n]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This section adds to the view of God as the father who owns the responsibility of providing for the needs of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. As such, it adds to the narrative that God is in charge and is an active parent. It gives credence to the view that God cares for his children in a more perfect way than the created parents can care for themselves or for their own children.
In view of this, I had to come to the conclusion that God is comfortable with the notion of being seen as not just a parent, but rather THE parent. God is comfortable with all of the requirements of parenting. He prepares for his children’s needs, he plans for their future, and has a solid path for each unique and distinct route they will all take. And understands the various permutations of each.
It really is not a stretch to accept the notion that Mr Warren put forward. If I as a parent take joy in the successes of my children, and allow me to assure you that I do, then it follows that if God views himself to be a more perfect parent than I ever hope to be, then he finds the same joy. It follows that the things that make me smile about the lives of my children, also make Him smile.
It follows further that when my daughter has worked her tail off in basketball, and has an amazing moment on the floor. When she finds herself unguarded and she has the confidence in herself and her ability to attempt a jump shot from twenty feet out, and gets nothing but net in a positive fashion, and that makes me grin from ear to ear in her success. That I am not alone in the moment of grin. That moment is shared with her creator also, and he is just as proud of her as I am, most likely more so.
He knows as well as I do, how hard she has worked. He knows the effort, the practice she has put in. He knows how much it means to her. And he knows that moment when she stopped, and took the risk of taking the shot on her own was a real moment of growth for her. When my daughter realized that taking the shot isn’t just something other players on the team do. When she realized she has the responsibility when on the court to recognize she has the best chance to score in that moment, and she took it, and was successful, my heart was overflowing with joy for her. I was proud of her beyond words. And furthermore, I know I was not alone in that moment.
Realizing the moments in which we dwell, in which we are at one with who we are and we were made to be, gives God the father joy is a powerful realization. The moments when you are doing the ‘stuff’ you were put here to do, in the fashion you were put here to do it, has a larger context to it. It means that if God made you to be a ditch digger, and you live a life of digging ditches and you do that to the best of your ability, it gives God joy. And we should recognize this as being the appointment of the divine to do and to be. And in doing so we fulfill the essential nature of the eternity put in our hearts.
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