The Skill Saw Father - Part Two

If the truth sets us free, then a lie enslaves us. The lie that God is in control can make us horribly sick. When we believe that God is about control then we are forced to believe things that aren’t true and see things that aren’t real. That’s what happened to me.

I walked around for years subtly believing that the flu was the response to some sin in my life. When my car was broken into, God let it happen to help me refocus on the disciplines of my faith. When I didn’t get the job I wanted and needed, it probably was because I didn’t love God enough. If the furnace broke in my home, God may have instigated it so I could learn how to trust Him with my finances. Or maybe he was disciplining me because of my poor financial planning. Essentially, life’s hardships were sent or allowed by my Father to teach me how to live better, stay disciplined, and love Him more.

It’s not that I didn’t see and experience the goodness of God through life’s journey. It’s just that the power of His goodness was sadly reduced to the limits enforced by the lie that existed in my heart about His nature. I was enslaved to the lie that my Heavenly Father was a controlling bi-polar fella; one day full of love, the next wielding a skill saw. I lived insecure in my relationship with Him never sure what was next.

Whether saved or unsaved, what we believe about the nature of our God determines how we relate with Him and directly affects our freedom. When we believe that God is about control, then when something goes wrong, someone has to be blamed. If we are believers, then for the most part, we blame others or ourselves. For unbelievers it’s a little easier to blame God.

The news calls natural disasters “Acts of God.” And sadly, much of the church still teaches that the city struck by a disaster had it coming due to its sin. Thus revealing that we agree with the world’s assessment of a petty controlling God. That makes me sad…

If we believe God is about control, it affects everything. Every experience and encounter is filtered through the insecurity of our small God. A control-based perspective of God is evidenced from the subtle anxiety we experience in our heart when the furnace breaks down, to the blatant sense of righteousness when a rapist gets the death penalty. Control births blame and someone has to pay...