Wednesday 25 July 2012

Is God on our side?

I've been prompted to think about this question this morning by a Twitter conversation.  It started with someone posting this:

God is on your side. He knows you completely, accepts you unconditionally, and loves you wholeheartedly.

Now, this comes from a highly respected, well-known leader, and I agree with him on most points generally speaking, but I found myself wondering about how helpful this particular comment was.  I know exactly what he's trying to do - people often believe that God can't stand them, and they need to know that he loves them more than they could ever really grasp.  But is He really on their side?  Is that the best way of expressing things?
My main issue is that, as I understand it, God is on our side when we are on His.  The quote above seems a bit me-centred.  To me, it's saying that I've got God with me.  Actually, I think this is only the case if I'm with God.  Maybe that's a bit pedantic, and I'm sure it would be possible to argue that people need to hear that God cares about them.  But my response would be to say that we can tell them that more accurately, without claiming that 'God is on your side'.  Because I'm not sure He is until we are on His.  And actually, it is far better for us to be on God's side than for Him to be on ours.  Us being on God's side reminds us that He is in control, not us.
Simply saying 'God loves you' instead might be a little overused and under-considered, but it could readily be developed by saying something more about how He has shown that love.
The above tweet could perhaps be improved (in my opinion!) simply by dropping the first sentence.

What do you think?


Am I being unnecessarily pedantic?


Is it ok to say 'God is on your side' as a general statement?

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