Unshackled Moments ~ September 9 ~ It's Not About Getting Right Or Getting Left

Yesterday I went to the feed store for dog food. As I made my way to the back of the store where the dog food is kept, I noticed a woman with a toddler trailing her. The little girl kept getting distracted by all the things around her, and she spent as much time stopped and looking at something, sometimes even trying to play with it, as she did walking and following the woman I assumed is her mother. The woman turned her head back toward the girl and said, "If you don't come on, I'm gonna leave you. I'm leaving you," in a sing song voice.

Now, I knew good and well that she wasn't going to abandon that little girl. She knew it. It's possible that somewhere inside the little girl knew it as well. But part of the girl believed, and that part was afraid. She cried and scurried back to Mom, and I thought well, that worked.

I've seen scenes like this played out more than once. It's an easy manipulation to get the obedience and cooperation of children in public. I guess it seems less  harmful and abusive than  a swat on the rear. I don't know. I do know that as I walked on by I couldn't help but think about how grateful I am that my Daddy isn't like that with me. He's not like that with you either. He's not like that with anybody, regardless of what some preachers trying to scare you into the pew might say.

Parents and friends and romantic partners who manipulate and threaten like this put the threatened in control. Everything supposedly hinges on the behavior and choices of the child. (I say supposedly because while I've heard many parents make this threat, none that I have seen have ever followed through, thank God) The parents give them a warning and a choice. Perform as I have told you to or I will abandon you. The pressure is on the kid. What  are you going to do? Are you going to get right or get left? But with God, the pressure is on Him. He knows we are helpless and hopeless to save ourselves and make ourselves righteous, so He made a way, He agreed to do the work, and He promised to complete the project once begun.

Maybe it's so easy for preachers to wrongly play this card because there's something within us that believes the threat before it is ever said. We feel like Daddy should abandon us. We know we're not good enough, obedient enough, faithful enough to please ourselves, much less a holy and perfect God.  But God is not a manipulator. There are things that He hasn't revealed yet, but He doesn't use manipulation or force to make us come to Him and obey. He came to us when we were twisted, tantrum throwing toddlers, acting like our daddy the devil. He said, Hi, I know you don't  know Me, but I made all this, and I made you. I love you with an everlasting love. I love you so very much that I sent my only begotten Son to die and pay the price demanded to set you free from the daddy who isn't caring for you and is abusing you and trying to kill you. I want to adopt you and make you My child forever. 

The Son who died rose again, and He's making a special place for you in My kingdom right now, but you have to come willingly. I want you to be with Me, and I will promise you now, before you ever even say yest to Me, that I will never leave you or forsake you, no matter what. Nothing in the way you live, nothing in how you die, not angels above or rulers here on earth, neither your fears about today nor your worries about tomorrow,  no power on earth or in hell, nothing and nobody, not even you, nowhere, nohow can separate you from Me or make Me abandon you. 

God will chasten. God will correct and discipline. God will let us act the fool and suffer the consequences of our actions and choices. But He will not leave us at the store. He will not leave us in the hell we made by our disobedience. He will not abandon us. He will not even threaten to. He's constantly calling. I love you. I want you to return to Me. If you will walk with Me, and accept My grace to help you, your life will be better, I promise. I love you. Please, your disobedience is hurting you and bringing death and destruction into your life. Let Me help you, heal you and protect you. I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you. You're not too dirty, too bad, too messed up for me to love. I can restore you. I will finish what I have begun. I love you.

Daddy isn't going anywhere. He's made it very clear and gone to great lengths to show us His love. Jesus, the revelation of Daddy's heart, loved with a no-quit, no-manipulation love as well. He came and died so that we could live. God has never been about scaring the hell out of anyone. He's always been in the business of loving the hell out of us. So,  the next time we get distracted and go down the wrong aisle or stop walking and we hear that voice say you better get right or get left, rebuke it in the name of Jesus. That's a lie. But staying where you is not the place of peace, joy and hope either. Run to Daddy. He's waiting with open arms for you, to quickly forgive you rather than leave you.



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