God, Sin & "The Tyrant in the Sky"

I had an AHA moment that I thought I’d share while reading my devotional this morning. 

Today’s devotional talked about sin and control. It talked about how often parents have good intentions with raising their children when they use tactics of fear, manipulation, threats, and guilt to try to teach (control) their kid's actions. 

(Disobey my orders and you will be grounded) 

 Now PAUSE I’m not a parent so I can’t speak to how to raise children but I was a child who was the product of this kind of parenting style. 

And it worked. 

Like many others who were brought up this way. I was a GOOD kid. I often joke with people that my mom kept our brains in a glass jar as children. All jokes aside, my acting out or messing up days when I was younger  are few and far between. 

Whether you believe that because of how I was raised or my character I’ll let you decide but I absolutely was a goody two shoes (and even am in some ways to this day).

Personally, I think it was because of fear. I was afraid of my parents, afraid of disappointing them, afraid of getting grounded, and when in younger days afraid my dad would BEAT MY $$$.  If I did something wrong you best believe I was NOT telling but also in most cases  if I thought, just THOUGHT I was going to get in trouble I WAS NOT DOING IT. 

This mindset I translated to my relationship with Christ and sin. Whether it was subconsciously or taught at church, I somehow learned that not sinning was easy, just DON’T IT. Perfection is attainable if you follow the rules and not following the rules was going to lead to eternal damnation. 

(Disobey my orders and you will be grounded) 

And even though I know better now, I still have days where  God has to V8 me in the head and say.

THATS. NOT. HOW. SIN. WORKS.

You see, for full transparency, sometimes when I sin, when I go through moments of depression, or when I act against something He told me to do … When I can’t pretend I’m a perfect christian…  I revert back to a child that’s afraid of punishment, and I can’t face God.  I avoid reading my bible and devotional. I avoid prayer. I hide.  I lie. I try to cover it up. It was so easy for me to deem myself as the “perfect kid” when I compared my rap sheet to my peers. But when I compare my sins to Jesus ….?

    Let me tell you guys, God got me all the way together this morning. As I continued reading, I began to sob at the next lines. 

The author proceeded to write that the reason why manipulation tactics are wrong, especially in regards to Christ, is because it  denies two truths of the gospel. 

• ( 1 ) That Sin is Natural. It's the nature of the human heart. WE ARE ALL BORN SINNERS and we will NEVER not be sinners.

• ​( 2 ) If manipulation, fear-tactics, or guilt actually worked at creating perfection or avoiding downfall then no one would sin anymore… No Sin. No Hell. No Damnation. So then why would God have sent Jesus to die?

What need would there be for grace if God could just scare us into place? 

After talking to God I promised myself something this morning that I will no longer be afraid to sin. I am a Christian, I am redeemed.  but I AM NOT perfect and NEVER WILL BE. Instead of feeling guilty,  hiding or fleeing. I’m going to take God with me into those moments and ask him to continue to reshape my brain around sin, being sinful and that false sense of perfection I acquire from time to time.

God is often portrayed as this evil Tyrant in the sky that says “obey me or die”. “Live by my rules or perish”. “You MUST change for me to love you.”  We have to destroy that depiction; myself included. 

If you're reading this and you’ve ever felt “victimized” by what people say God says and “his rules.”  KNOW … that God NEVER asked you to be sinless.

 IN FACT, He KNOWS it’s NOT POSSIBLE. That’s why he sent Jesus, we were never going to make it on our own.