my mum got a book a few weeks ago called "The Shack" (ever heard of it?) by a guy called W.P. Young and i decided i'd start reading it. i struggled with the first few pages, i just couldn't be bothered. i wanted to put it down and switch on this morning instead (lol). but i slowly found myself getting drawn into the story, getting interested by the characters and intrigued by the unusual plot unfolding before me. after a while i was hooked. i haven't totally finished the book yet, but it was so incredibly deep. i know we have the Bible yes, and thats one of the ways get to know God. it is after all HIS very word, spoken from His very lips. but this book, it has given me a new perspective on things. i can't really describe it to you but the ideas put forward in it really spoke to me.
sometimes its hard to develop a 'personal' relationship with a God who is so complex - i mean, there's the whole trinity idea, 3 in 1, sometimes i can't get my head around that. then there's the fact that Jesus lives in us - Jesus lives in us? but how? then there's the crucifixion, the resurrection, the big evil and suffering debate, and countless other things that day in and day out just fry my brain. How are we even meant to have a personal relationship with a God who we cannot physically see or touch or hear or even smell? we rely on so much empirical evidence, yet when it comes to belief in God, many people seem to just say "yeah i get it, i understand this faith".
well sometimes i don't.
in fact, a lot of the time i don't get it.
The shack presents the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as people (on second thoughts, even though it is a contradiction, "supernatural people" may serve as a better description of how Young presents God) who i can relate to. For example, the character of Jesus in His book has opened my eyes. The Bible presents Jesus as a friend, yes. But sometimes the stories of Him walking on water and raising the dead scare us a little. to be honest, i'm a tiny wee bit scared about meeting Jesus. its so hard to relate to him sometimes. Jesus was fully human, yes. But He was also fully God. its this that makes it so hard for me sometimes to relate to Him.
Take for example the whole thought thing. Jesus said that if you even think about a member of the opposite sex in a lustful way you might as well have gone over to them and had sex. in other words, in the new covenant, even thinking about sinning was just as bad as actually getting up and committing the sin. i dont know about you, but i think about sinning on a daily basis. sometimes i wonder - how did Jesus not think about sinning? it seems totally impossible to me. but then again, maybe us thinking about the sinning is just temptation, and we all know that Jesus was tempted....
...hmmm....sorry im going off on a bit of a tangent there! okay ill get back to the shack (haha that rhymes).
it presents Jesus as an ordinary guy - he looks like your average man, not like a supermodel or anything lol, he speaks in a way that can be easily understood, he finds joy just sitting and stargazing with the main character of the book, Mack. the best thing about it though is the way Jesus loves. He just sits with Mack and has conversations with him. they laugh together and listen to each other and cry together. sometimes when we read in the Bible of Jesus interacting with the disciples, we can forget that they were just ordinary people too. it was refreshing to read of Jesus interacting with another human being who wasn't a disciple...the book presents Mack's shortcomings, his failings, his story, his hurts, his doubts, where he went wrong in life; and then it shows Jesus hugging him, asking him questions, just enjoying being with him. THATS what a personal relationship with Jesus should be like. THATS the kind of relationship i want with my Saviour. i think sometimes its easy to distance ourselves from God, in fact i think we've become so accustomed to it that it has shaped the way our faith is.
tell me this, do you love God? "of course i do!" i hear you say...
but do you REALLY love God?
with love, comes trust. if we truly love God, we should trust him - not just with the little things like the test we haven't really revised for, or for the dentist appointment we are dreading. we should trust Him in the big things too. if we trust God with our lives, He will take control, and all the decisions He makes will be for good. they may not seem like good at the time, but we can't see the bigger picture. as it says in the shack... "Who wants to worship a God who can be fully comprehended, eh? Not much mystery in that".
i know ive gone on about this book alot, but let me tell you, nothing on this earth (especially a book!) can compare with the fullness and the wisdom and the joy i get from knowing Jesus. im going to pursue this personal relationship with Him and see where trusting Him takes me. im guessing it wont be easy, but im willing to take the risk. it is going to be oh so worth it.
