Perspective 75

What Do We Want from God?

Last week I was happy to be in Italy with the Grace College Go Encounter team well-led by Dr. John Poch. We learned much about poetry and art and we saw several cities including the nearby town of Assisi. The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi is not only beautiful as are most ancient things but also currently active.

I was surprised to learn that in addition to all we know about Saint Francis and his prayer of peace how much energy he gave to Christianity in Italy in the 1200s so that it impacted daily life, festivals, art, and even gave a dynamism that led to the better paintings of the Renaissance.

As the students and I had the opportunity to listen to our guide, Friar Dan, we were challenged spiritually at a very high level and we were instructed in some better morals of our day and also a bit challenged to think about some things where Catholicism differs significantly from Protestant Christianity. That is how we grow: thinking about things that are both fresh and curious.

I was also happy to meet Graham who joined for a bit of the time. He is a very well-educated British barrister, now judge. Just as Assisi surprised me, I was also surprised when I asked him what he thought characterized the church in Italy.

There are many simple and maybe oversimplified ways of looking at churches in various countries. In France what most people seem to want when they go to church is healing. They see the crucifix of the suffering Jesus and know that he understands. They are saying their prayers and lighting candles in the hope that their suffering, both physical and relational, will end. Oversimplified? Sure, but useful.

Not so in North America. We go to church in the high hope that God will ratify our choices. We are quick to criticize others, but we have a deep fault of wanting Jesus not just to accept us just as we are but to leave us alone and to bless us just as we are. “Not us,” we say. OK, fine, but that is a tendency, and we are vulnerable.

I asked Graham what he thought the British people wanted from God and he answered, “Nothing. It is a very post-Christian nation,” though he and his wife are well involved in an active and faithful church. I asked about what people wanted from God or church two hundred years ago in England, and his instant response was, “Respectability.” Keep the right rules, obey the right laws, be properly moral, and be in church on Sunday because we are respectable. It is a deal; I go to church, and you make me respectable.

I remember being in Guatemala in 2019 with a remarkable Wycliffe translator husband and wife team I have known from Ohio since the 1970s. They worked with the Mam people in the ‘80s-‘90s. This million strong people group not only lacked a Mam bible, but they did not even have a written language. No literacy. His work gave them both and had an impact that struck me deeply. I walked behind him on this 2019 visit long after they had finished and moved away. Grateful people who recognized him would come along side to talk. What did they want from God? Unlike Europe, the God of the Bible was new to them. These Christians were full of joy.

I had a hard time guessing what the answer about what makes the church in Italy tick. When I asked him, he instantly said, “Power. The Italian church is all about power. Home in England the Catholics say to each other, ‘Don’t go to Italy.’” It’s a different world.

It is interesting and worthwhile to know what different people seem to want from God, but it is still fundamentally the wrong question. We cannot make a deal with God by faith or serving him or giving or sacrificing or abstaining. Making a deal with God is a fundamental misunderstanding of the grace of God.

Christopher Watkin insists that no seeking to make a deal with God can possibly arise from a faith that understands the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ life and work on our behalf have provided an astounding deliverance from who we were and from our sin and failures, He provides an astounding opportunity to serve him from a heart of deep gratitude. This of course is not easy for me or for any of us. As Easter approaches, we will do well to consider the grace of God in Jesus Christ rather than any healing answer or ratification he just might provide for us. Those may be second things, but as CS Lewis wrote we must seek the first thing first.