Shotgun Weddings and God’s Love
The room was silent. A shotgun was propped up in the corner of the dining room. My soon-to-be father-in-law stood next to it with his arms folded, wearing a threatening grimace on his face. A handwritten sign taped to the muzzle yelled, “No turning back now!”
It was a prank, of course. We all laughed and have told and re-told the story many times since. Michelle and I were to be married in a few days. No threats or coercion was needed for either of us to walk down the aisle. The truth is, I would have sprinted willingly down the aisle. I knew I wanted to spend my life with her almost from the moment we met. In 23 years together we have both grown and changed. Our relationship has evolved. It’s not always perfect or easy. It requires time and tending to and sometimes work. But our love for one another is NEVER forced. We never have to threaten one another to stay in love and remain committed to one another. That is just something that IS and will ALWAYS BE.
Love like this is akin to the way God loves me (and all people.) I don’t have to threaten, coerce, or force God to love me. God just does. Period. Most people have no argument with that, but. I like to push on it from the other direction as well. God does NOT threaten, coerce, or force me to love God. That’s not love, that’s trespass. This is why the common (in some theological viewpoints) image of an angry, punitive God who requires blood and sacrifice to appease “his” anger with lowly sinners makes zero sense to me. Am I really a “sinner in the hands of an angry God,” or am I loved beyond measure without condition or requirement? Is God forcing me to love “him” under the threat of hell? Is hell the shotgun God uses to force me down the aisle of commitment to receive “his” love? If that’s love, I don’t want it.
Maybe God just loves me. Period.
Of course, my relationship with God needs attention and care if I ever want it to evolve and grow. Absent this care and tending, it's not really much of a relationship, is it?
But love is NEVER in question.
