Somewhere in my formative years, I high jacked the Bible. I tried to make it all about me.
But the problem is that if the Bible is all about me, it is as limited as i am.
I need a faith that defies gravity.
I need a God that is shocking.
But that is scary.
We want a God that we can tame, that we can keep on a leash.
We want Him to meekly follow us home, where we can ask “Mom, can I keep him?”
We try to declaw God.
We want God to fit our formulas.
We want Him to be predictable and easily manipulated.
We want Him to just be quiet and make us happy.
The problem is that God isn’t house trained.
Sometimes He makes a mess.
He simply can’t or won’t be contained or explained in three points.
We try to turn the consuming fire into a controlled burn.
We try to decaffeinate God.
But, a domesticated deity can’t make a difference.
When we eliminate the mystery we eliminate the miracle.
When we eliminate the mess, we eliminate the magic.
We don’t trust what we can’t control, but that’s precisely the point, we have to surrender to the unseen.
We don’t like weakness or wildness.
But we’ve got to be honest about our weakness so that we can taste holy wildness.
The one who gave us breath should leave us breathless.
The one who was Spirit-conceived was never meant to be preconceived.
Jesus didn’t come to tidy things up, he came to turn things over.
He was the SHOCK GOD!
Just like a good shock jock, He is deliberately provocative.
Jesus is untamed.
He didn’t come to make us nice, He came to make us new.
He didn’t come to make us happy, He came to make us whole.
Sometimes that is messy and uncontrollable.
He is the SHOCK GOD!!
He came to shock us to life like a holy defibrillator.
God is meant to be a mystery that is discovered a little at a time over the course of a lifetime.
Faith is a beautiful adventure that should make your hands sweat as you hold them up in thanks.
If your god is safe or predictable, chances are you’ve created him in your image.
Predictable and trustworthy are not the same thing.
God is good, but He’s not safe. (Shout out to Aslan).
He’s shocking!
He is the SHOCK GOD!
carbonated joy 