more lies: 'you suck, try harder'

I was talking with my good friend Scott Last yesterday. He observed that lately the basic message he’s heard from most pulpits these days is this: “You suck; try harder.”

I laughed at that, not in disbelief but in recognition.

He said, “Seriously! That’s what it boils down to!” He mimicked someone in the act of preaching and took it a step further, noting that the message then becomes: “You say you’ve tried harder and still can’t do it? Well…that just means you suck. So, try harder!”

And so it goes: the teachers of the law putting heavier burdens on the beloved of God. An endless cycle of slavery.

But, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Gal. 5:1)

The Father does not say, “Do this for me!”  He says, “Look what I’ve done for you! I love you because I love you because I love you. You are my child. How could I do anything but love you? You are my love poem to the world. I wrote you. You are wonderful and mysterious and sacred. You more loved than you can ever know this side of eternity. That’s why I’ve destined you for another life that will never end—so I can go on loving you forever. Do not believe such toxic lies. They poison your soul. Just live in my love and know you are loved, the object of my boundless affection. Like a flower soaking in the rays of the sun, I would but have you turn your face to me. I love you.”

Rest in that.