I was reading somewhere on Stuff Christians Like about people tipping with only a religious tract. I see how nice tracts can be for a person reading it and being converted, theoretically speaking. Or in reality, you are tipping the waiter with something worth fifteen cents.
I'm sure it's rare for someone to just tip with a tract, but that bothers me someone would not include the few dollars for the waiter. Waiting tables is a challenging, exhausting job.
Nobody could get carried away with religious tracts as Miss Clack from Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone.
On a side note, I guess just by posting these little comics, they're answers or "visual expressions" for me to respond the "What if God does love me?" question.
I always wanted to feel validated. No, I did not once in my life try to earn the approval from a with a cruddy-drawn stick figure on a piece of cardboard.
And there's this strange trend with claiming something to be awesome. I guess it's a nice, tongue-in-cheek feeling to say if something awesome or not.
I heard this simple sentence and its implicit meaning ring many times in my conversations with Christians. It should be wonderful to be reminded and comforted with these three words. Like drinking hot chocolate on a cold day, it should warm me up.
Except there is a glacier of ice cubes floating in it.
This bothers me. Why doesn’t my heart dissipated to butterflies and rainbows whenever I hear “God loves you?” I see the more vocal believers respond with amens and affirmations. I try to imitate their act of piety forcing this thought into my mind. Instead, I’m pouring salt into my hot cocoa and now it tastes bitter.
I am a Christian, and I should know better. Have been attending Sunday services for years, and somehow this sentence still frustrates me. And I feel guilty for not grasping this as truth while wrestling with this doubt. I think somewhere in me (perhaps my subconscious) believes that God loves me, my heart is saying something else:
God likes me.
And if I’ve been a very good boy, God really likes me.
Whether you attend Sunday service or disregard the churches and its members you pass by, there is something about that overstated sentence God loves you. Perhaps you are suspicious about it, thinking it’s just a fairy tale or some ancient marketing scheme. Let’s set aside our skepticism aside for just a brief moment, and use our unique gift of imagination to see beyond reality and into possibilities of what ifs.
What if God loves you?
What if, what if, and just what if, that’s true? Someone divine and beyond us knows ourselves. And regardless of our many one-night stands, moles, and shame, God loves us just as we are and desires the best for us?
Okay, put on your skepticism caps again. Rather than just to ignore or scoff God loves you, try at least to ask yourself, What if God loves me?
I think our culture has taught us too well to be skeptical, which is not entirely a bad thing. With this, we need to be able to not be too naive and to discern false claims and hypes. But this in turn has allowed us to become reluctant to investigate if this God loves you really holds out.
Once again, I do not have these prepared, theological statements to address. Even I, a churchgoer of many years, still struggle with this statement. I am journaling my thoughts, questions, and doubts as I go.
I hope you would at least consider God loves you a possibility.
