The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
If you remember the plotline of the movie The Stepford Wives, you will remember the husbands of the fictional town of Stepford, Connecticut, schemed to have their wives turned into robots who would do what they wanted them to do without any input or argument. It was the husbands’ idea of a perfect world, where their wives would unquestioningly meet their every need. There is only one problem with this fantasy; there is no real relationship with a robot. Relationship, by definition, demands the invitation and the ability to question and to contradict each other in order for it to be real and personal and intimate.
Far too many people would like to have a “Stepford Savior” who does not question, contradict, challenge, or correct. When they read the Bible, they receive the portions they like—those sections that don’t offend them or run counter to their will. When they come across “difficult” passages that require more of them than they are willing to give, they ignore them, picking and choosing what they want to believe and what to reject. Older readers may recall the infamous “Jesus Seminar,” made up of a group of so-called “scholars” who voted with colored beads to arbitrarily choose which words of Christ were “accurate” and which should be rejected.
Make no mistake, if you have a god who cannot contradict you, you don’t have the real God! What you have is a god of your own making, a god of your imagination, not the Sovereign Lord of revealed truth. You have a created Stepford Savior, something which has no more relation to reality than does a robot wife.
This is not for you! Jesus came to this world, lived a sinless life, and died a sacrificial death in order to have a real relationship with you. During that relationship there will be times when you won’t understand what He is doing in your life. Abraham had this kind of relationship with God; he was called to leave his home and follow God wherever He would lead. Moses had this kind of relationship with God; he was called to be the deliverer of the Israelite nation. The apostle Paul had this kind of relationship with God; he had his Damascus-road encounter with the risen Savior and was told to go into the city and wait for instructions. All these men, and many more men and women of whom we read in Scripture had a real relationship with a real God, not a robot. They worshiped the One who would challenge them, confront them, confound them, and correct them along the way to fulfilling the call He had placed on their lives.
What kind of Savior do you have? To answer that question, you need only consider how you view the Bible. Is it authoritative in your life? Does it always get the last word, even when that word is contrary to your will? Remember, in a real relationship with the real Savior, you will not always get what you want, but you will always get what you need exactly when you need it.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 