Has God been fired?

Roots reaching into a stream in the Forest of Nisene Marks; Aptos, CA

In generations past (in this part of the world, at least), the notion of ‘God’ was a necessity. It was baked into the batter of our social cake, if you will. For the longest time, getting right with God was necessary to our ‘salvation,’ as it’s been put. This ‘God problem’ was just something we had to deal with. Our parents and grandparents and teachers and pastors held it in front of us every day. 

But in our modern world, things have changed drastically in a very short span of time. In a lot of homes, we have a generation or so of people who were raised without this necessity to work out their salvation with God in the spiritual/moral gym we call church. It’s just not even part of the narrative. 

“Good” Christians might look at this and scoff: Ugh, these Godless heathens! How dare thou! Thou must repent, or else!

But as for me, I’m actually proud of our recent generations. We’re doing our best to throw off the burden of a tyrannical God. We’ve tried to fire the God of wrath and have effectively told each other that this big bully God isn’t a necessity anymore. I mean, sure, the God thing is nice to have during the holidays or at certain ceremonies. God is nice to be able to pull out of our pockets like Santa Claus as a moral cop in the sky when our kids misbehave. But God, as the cosmic school principal, has lost God’s role as an essential worker in our world. 

To that, I’d love to say, good riddance. But I also know it isn’t so easy. And our efforts haven’t succeeded one bit. Because look where we are with God now. God still speaks to us from the room down the hall we’ve put him in time out in. And his voice still sounds punitive. It’s unpredictable. It still favors some over others. 

But here’s my belief… The human heart needs God (or a “Higher Power” as my friends in recovery call it). It’s designed to live and move and love in conjunction with a God who loves it, not condemns it. This means that by kicking God down the hall into time out like we’ve tried to do in our modern secular age, we’ve actually rendered God more necessary than ever. 

God has lost God’s role as an essential worker in our world.

I see so many people (and have been there myself) walking around with a thirst for the unconditional love that only God can give. Their kids can’t give it to them. Their spouse can’t give it to them. Their boss or their clients can’t give it to them. No number of likes on social media can give it to them. They’re looking for this love in all the wrong places - money, status, security, social validation, etc. 

When I say that God is more necessary than ever, I don’t say this in a punitive or transactional way. I’m not saying it’s necessary to believe that Jesus is God “or else.” I don’t think this is how God wants to be seen. Because thinking of faith as a “have to” will only lead to losing it. God knows this. When preachers punch the pulpit and scream that we “have to believe” or “choose Jesus as our personal savior,” it defeats the purpose of the good news of Jesus altogether. 

Faith isn’t something you “have to do” in that way. As Lutheran theologian Gerhard Forde once said, that’s like yelling at single people that they “Have to fall in love… right now!” It’s a futile endeavor. 

We don’t “have to” believe. I think God prefers atheists to people who believe out of coercion. I think God desires to be the one we WANT TO believe. This sure seems to be what God is up to in Jesus. To set us free for this relationship. God wants to not just be desired but ENJOYED. God wants to be more than just needed or necessary. 

It can be nice to be needed, sure. But a relationship built solely on need is a sketchy thing. It’s far more fulfilling to be more than needed. The best relationships are the ones in which we’re enjoyed for our own sake. Not to be necessary… But wanted. Liked. Loved. 

In this way, I think God wants to be more than necessary.
To call us forward totally uncoerced.

In Jesus, God runs to us to kick open the cage of necessity we’ve put Him in. To allow us to see the beauty our lives take on when we surrender to the attraction of authentic divine love. 

All that’s needed now is for us to listen to the whisper in our hearts that breaks in from outside of us in the small book of Scripture and the Big Book of the created world and proclaims, “I love you.”