Danielle Hawkins: not everything is conditional

     "For it is not so much of our time and so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time and all our attention; it is ourselves" (Weight of Glory, 189).


This concept is crazyyyyyy. This idea that God wants just ourselves is contradictory to all relationships with humans. Relationships are this interplay of how can I love you better or how can I be a better person. It is all about conditional doings. I think by living in this world we are trained that we must do things in order to keep progressing in relationship with people. This idea in a relationship with God looks like doing works for our salvation. When we do this, a comparison game starts to happen and causes a division with God, ourselves, and with others. I am thankful for an unconditional relationship with God that all I have to do is come to him as me. As I think about this in my own life I see that I can often get caught up in being self righteous and it causes me to look down on other people who could be pursuing a relationship with God. I often say to my self, oh these people are not living/doing these sorts of things, so they must not have a relationship with God. Then I am reminded of the character of God. The story of Edmund's redemption helps me keep this at the forefront of my mind and seek the greater truth that all the Lord wants is ourselves. Edmund did not have to do anything to be forgiven by Aslan. All Aslan wanted was for Edmund to come back to him and it is POWERFUL. What would this look like if we practiced this sort of welcoming with one another? What if we truly believed that all God wanted was ourselves? How would this change our lives and religion? 

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