Same God, New Eyes

Description

God is always the same, but our ideas of God are meant to grow. In this reflection, I explore one of the most freeing shifts in spiritual life: moving from “God the punisher” to God as the One who is always there to help us recover. Swedenborg writes in Secrets of Heaven 3131 that “God is never angry and never punishes anyone,” and that “nothing ever comes from the Lord but what is good.” That changes everything. Slowly, sometimes over years, we learn to release a transactional view of faith built on fear, worthiness tests, and crime-and-punishment thinking. Instead, we begin to trust “the no matter whatness of God.” Yes, we make mistakes. Yes, accountability matters. Still, God holds us within love, and when we receive that love more deeply, we can pass it on with more grace. Our view of God shapes how we hold other people, so if we believe God is loving, patient, and endlessly present, we become less judgmental and more alive. More peaceful. More free.