\u201cI just can\u2019t stand going to Church because of my claustrophobia\u2026God will understand<\/b><\/i>.\u201d
\u201cI can\u2019t put as much as I usually do into the collection plate because I had to hire a plumber\u2026God will <\/b>understand<\/b><\/i>.\u201d
\u201cI have two children.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want anymore.\u00a0 Who wants stretch marks?\u2026God will understand<\/b><\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
God will understand.\u00a0 God will understand.\u00a0 God will understand.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
I have heard this platitude used so many times that it fails to register for what it truly is, an attempt to ease the conscience over bad and sinful behavior.\u00a0 God, in His infinite wisdom, has given us the gift of reason and too often we use it to convince ourselves that we\u2019re not really so bad.\u00a0 We decide what it is that we<\/i>\u00a0 want and then reverse-engineer our logic to fit our own selfish desires.\u00a0 That\u2019s what \u201cGod will understand\u201d is, the mark of selfishness.<\/p>\n
This short and simple three word phrase betrays the truth about us more than almost any other.\u00a0 It says to the careful listener, and to God Himself, that we have placed ourselves above Him.\u00a0 We have deified ourselves.\u00a0 In allowing our own personal judgment to be the arbiter of right and wrong, we have placed our own minds on par with or above the mind of the Almighty.\u00a0 If God is reasonable<\/i>, then it is logical that He can be reasoned with<\/i>, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 And so it follows that if I have been given the gift of Free Will, then it would almost be wrong not to exercise it.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 The mental gymnastics inherent in this simple phrase are monumental.\u00a0 They require the elevation of the speaker and the diminution of God, all in the name of self-interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod will understand\u201d is used as a stand in for \u201cGod will excuse,\u201d but without its courage of conviction.\u00a0 Expecting understanding is akin to expecting a free pass, a Get out of Hell free card.\u00a0 It is said with a forlorn hope for forgiveness without the necessity of changing our ways.\u00a0 It would be more honest to say, \u201cI hope that God will understand and forgive,\u201d but that would require a level of honesty with which most of us are not comfortable. <\/p>\n
The truth is that God does understand.\u00a0 He understands that we are sinful, that we are prideful, that temptation encourages us to place ourselves on a footing equal with God.\u00a0 He understands that we, in our lowly state, imagine that we know what is best for ourselves, and that we are often willing to risk eternal damnation in exchange for being momentarily \u201cright\u201d and getting our own way.\u00a0 God sees the truth of the evil encapsulated in this one common phrase even if we do not.\u00a0 It is precisely because he understands how sinful we can be that He sent his Son to redeem us, to save us from our own nasty natures and stupidity.\u00a0 He was hung on a tree for us.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it long past time that we stopped demanding His understanding and started begging His forgiveness?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI just can\u2019t stand going to Church because of my claustrophobia\u2026God will understand.\u201d\u201cI can\u2019t put as much as I usually do into the collection plate because I had to hire a plumber\u2026God will understand.\u201d\u201cI have two children.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want anymore.\u00a0 Who wants stretch marks?\u2026God will understand.\u201d God will understand.\u00a0 God will understand.\u00a0 God will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n