What does God want from us?

What does God want from us? When we pray, we often ask God for all sorts of things.  And we’re often disappointed if we don’t get everything we wanted – NOW!  Have you ever thought about it the other way around? What do you think He wants from us?  And do you think maybe He’s disappointed when we fail to give Him what He wants?

What does God want from us? is article # in the series: What does God want. Click button to view titles for entire series

That begs the question, what do you think God is like?  If you think He’s mean, you’ll have a different answer than if you think He’s loving.

For instance, do you think God’s like the adjacent image? He wants us to be perfect, and when we aren’t He reaches out His hand and zaps us? 

Hint. That’s not what God is really like. Although, we might feel like it sometimes. I know I have. But I also know that I was wrong.

This is probably a different look at the question compared to what you expect. Keep an open mind.  And think about the possibility that we actually do get what we expect.

What do we think of God?

 This is part of something I wrote back in the summer of 2011.  We went through it several years later in a Bible Study class I lead.  It’s been more than ten years since the original, so it’s definitely time for an update.

During the discussion in the class, an interesting comment came up.  One of the people said they have a hard time imagining God the Father as being friendly.  Jesus – yes, because that’s generally what’s taught in churches.  But the Father – no.  He’s like this mean guy from the Old Testament, always out to reap justice.  The concept of a loving Father, that’s just not what this person was used to.

Personally, I can relate to the difficulties surrounding a loving father. If mine had a finger like in the image above, I’d have zap marks all over me. Truth is, I do. But they’re all internal/emotional. They are visible sometimes. But not for what they really are.

To tell the truth, that person isn’t alone.  I remember hearing the same things.  Same with many other people I’ve talked with.  But I also know what Jesus said about the Father, and that just doesn’t match up with a mean guy.

There will be more in this series. For instance, questions are raised in this article that won’t be answered until later.

And, we’ll get into whether or not, even in the Old Testament, God was a friend or foe to His people. We’ll go through the events between God and Pharaoh, with Moses and Aaron as the intermediaries to examine what really took place.

But first, I do want to start with a passage that I hung on to, even as a kid, relating to the supposed differences between my father and God the Father.

Ask, Seek, Knock – Matthew

7:7-11 pp — Lk 11:9-13

Mt 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Mt 7:9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

I wanted that Father so badly. But I didn’t really find Him until much later in my life, after a period of even running away from Him because I thought He was out to get me. However, as I sabuid, I eventually learned, I was wrong and He was right all along.

What does God want from us – a different point of view

If you’re a regular reader here, you probably know I like music. So let’s try to answer this question with some lyrics from a song. It’s not a Christian song. However, since we should be able to see something of God everywhere, why shouldn’t we be able to find Him in a song. I even have a category of articles now about seeing something of God in non-Christian music.

Here are some of the words from the song we’re looking at today.

“How much do I owe you?” said the man to his Lord.
“For giving me this day and every day that’s gone before.
“Shall I build a temple, shall I make a sacrifice?
“Tell me Lord and I will pay the price.”

And the Lord said: “I won’t take less than your love, sweet love.
“No, I won’t take less than your love.
“All the treasures of the world could never be enough,
“And I won’t take less than your love.”

Do you know the song? It’s called I won’t take less than your love, by Tanya Tucker, with either Paul Davis or Paul Overstreet (depending on which version you listen to).

In the song, a similar conversation takes place between a husband and his wife – and between a son and his mother. As I said, it’s not a Christian song. It’s just a song. Country, if you really care. But the words really bring out a pretty deep message.

Using non-Christian music to see something of God in our lives

Anyway, you might wonder why I chose this song. And if you know the song, then you know I started at the end. So you might wonder, why begin at the end?

First, I started at the end because there were so many feelings/thoughts in such a short time yesterday (the day before the original version) that it may be difficult to write this (and read it) without knowing ahead of time where it’s going.

Second, as to how I got here. Yesterday, I was just laying on the couch in the early evening taking a break, and listening to music. The songs from the musical play Mama Mia were playing. Lay All Your Love On Me comes on.
Quite often, this one reminds me of something that God would say to us.

Don’t go wasting your emotions, lay all your love on me.
Don’t go sharing your devotion, lay all your love on me.

And what did this remind me of?

The Greatest Commandment – Matthew

22:34-40 pp — Mk 12:28-31

Mt 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Mt 22:37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

Can you see why? “Lay all your love on me” in the song. And “ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. in the greatest commandment.

Some of you recognize that there’s more to this passage.

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The two thoughts now tie together even closer than you might think. If we, as the greatest commandment says, lay all our love on Jesus, then the second will automatically be done as well. Why? because at that point, we will be able to accomplish the command to love ourselves and others the same way God loves us.

Of course, this isn’t really possible this side of Heaven. But it’s something we should work towards. And while we will backtrack from time to time, our general direction should be one of getting progressively better.

More music. More God-given talent.

After that, I felt like I really wanted to listen to a song called Jerusalem Ridge. I don’t know who wrote it. Or what it’s about (it has no words). The version I have is played by Tony Rice. If you haven’t heard it, you may want to check it out on iTunes or your favorite music platform. It’s from The Bluegrass Guitar Collection.

BTW, I left iTunes in here, because that’s what it was at the time. Of course now, it seems iTunes has pretty much been replaced by the Music app on everything except Windows.

Anyway, I’ve seen this song played live by some friends that play for fun and whatever people give them at pizza parlors and such. And it’s amazing to watch them play. They are very good. It was amazing to listen to and even more so to watch their fingers flying over the instruments. This song is so complex and so fast! Tony Rice and company sound even better. It would be awesome to see them play.

Live performances in the pizza place are almost as much a thing of the past as iTunes. With COVID, even more than two years on, between the customers and the musicians, there’s too much fear for them to go on at the time of this writing.

So, I’m listening to this, and I begin to get so relaxed – getting this “warm fuzzy feeling”. And I’m reminded of something else.

With apologies to people who think their first instinct if they saw Jesus would be to bow down or lay down and worship Him, I don’t feel that way. I’m not saying others are wrong. This is just how I feel.

Ever since I was in grade school, God, The Father – has been Someone who I’d really like to just curl up in His hand and be protected and feel safe. Not that I necessarily thought it was going to happen. But it is what I wanted. As for Jesus, I can’t wait to just walk the streets of Heaven, with His arm over my shoulder, and be with Him, my Best Friend.

Then I see myself going to a concert with Jesus.
And Jerusalem Ridge is being played.
Jesus asks me if I liked it.
Of course, I did.
Then He tells me, if you liked that, check this out.

Of course, it ends there.
Except that now I’ve got tears coming from my eyes and such a feeling of joy.
Can’t wait for that experience to really happen!

So – if you’re still with me here, this is how I got to this point.

Seeing God in books

I’ve been reading a book series called The Dominion Trilogy, by Robin Parrish. The events in the book are quite unbelievable (except maybe in an apocalyptic sense), but some of the individual scenes and interactions between the people really make one think about our relationship with each other and with God and what He wants from us.

After finishing that, I’m about halfway through Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud, by Philip Yancey. That is totally about not only what we want from God. Rather, it’s about what He wants from us.

He talks about our disappointment with God because God often doesn’t do what we want Him to do. But, he also talks about how God is often disappointed with us, because we often don’t do what He’d like us to do. That’s the problem with free will. Something I’ve written about many times. It’s when our will matches God’s will that things will be best. Here’s a striking excerpt from the book –

As I read through the Bible in my winter aerie<he was in a snow-bound cabin in Colorado for a couple weeks>, I marveled at how much God lets human beings affect him. I was unprepared for the joy and anguish – in short, the passion – of the God of the Universe. By studying “about” God, by taming him and reducing him to words and concepts that could be filed away in alphabetical order, I had lost the force of the passionate relationship God seeks above all else. The people who related to God the best – Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah treated him with startling familiarity. They talked to God as if he were sitting in a chair beside them, as one might talk to a counselor, a boss, a parent, or a lover. They treated him like a person.

Like going to a concert with Jesus, maybe?

Some will strenuously object to this, I’m sure.
However, Jesus did go to a wedding, didn’t He?

Seeing God in a miracle

You maybe remember that?

Jesus Changes Water to Wine

Jn 2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

Jn 2:4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

Jn 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Jn 2:6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Jn 2:7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Jn 2:8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Jn 2:11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

It wasn’t even Jesus’ time yet, but He performed His first miracle.

And look at what He did.

The best wine was served at the beginning of the wedding, as the master of the banquet said. But, when Jesus “makes” His wine, it’s even better. Although I have to ask, as an aside, do we really think Jesus would have made inferior wine?

Let’s go back to my friends playing at the pizza parlor, or Tony Rice and his group, playing Jerusalem Ridge.

I wrote about seeing God’s gifts to us in something like a piano – in the instrument, in the music that was written for it, and in the people who can write and play that music. That was in Is God Loving – or Angry?

Think about that music now. And the wine incident.

Turning the water into wine was a miracle, yes. It showed a small part (very small part) of what Jesus can do. How about a small glimpse of what Heaven will be like? Whatever we think is the best here on earth, it’ll be better in Heaven. That concert is going to be unbelievable.

Seeing God in all sorts of places

Now, let’s put it all together.

• Whatever we have here on earth, it’ll be better in Heaven.
• I can’t wait to hear the music.
• God wants us to be His friend, wants to be our friend, wants us to love Him.

Do you think He doesn’t want to be our friend? Maybe He wants us to just worship Him all the time and nothing else? Check out the passage below. Clearly, there are things for us to do. Some say, Jesus loves us as we are, and then stop there. Some point out that we must believe, and stop there, without even getting into what believe really means.

Do we even want an answer to – What does God want from us?

So yes, God does love us as we are. And We do have to believe in Jesus, as the Son of God, our savior, and our King. However, none of those things as we tend to know them today, get us to the point where Jesus calls us friend in the Gospels. Here’s one place where we should be able to clearly see the reality of my statements.

The Vine and the Branches

Jn 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

The idea of pruning is present throughout the Gospels. For whatever reason, it doesn’t seem to be quite complete when it comes to church doctrine. The “once saved, always saved” concept gives rise to people who think they just need to get baptized and they’re forever saved, no matter what they do. Or, in this case, what they don’t do!

And yet, look what Jesus said about the branches that bear no fruit. Those branches are cut off from the tree. In other words, those of us who bear no fruit, don’t do anything other than say, “I believe”, and go about our merry way with to change in our lives, We’re cut off from Jesus.

That’s as opposed to those of us who do bear fruit, who because of our faith do work for God’s Kingdom, who do go through what’s referred to as a transformation, are pruned. That’s trimmed, not cut off. Pruning represents removing the parts of our lives that aren’t productive for God’s Kingdom.

The difference is this. Those who produce nothing for God’s Kingdom are cut off. We’re already dead, this just makes it “official”. Those of us who do produce things for God’s Kingdom are willing to be pruned, so that we can produce even more for God’s Kingdom.

Please check out What happened to Christian transformation – becoming more Christ-like? for more on the concept of transformation in the life of a Christian.

Jesus then continues.

Jn 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus gives an explanation. This is where my words above came from.

Then, Jesus gets to the part about “friend”. I’ve underlined the verses to make them easy to find.

Jn 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”

And there it is. Jesus said, You are my friends if you do what I command. Did you notice, that’s a conditional statement. It’s not, as some might think, Jesus is my friend no matter what I do. Rather, it’s Jesus is our friend if we do what He said. You are my friends if you do what I command.

Do we want to be a friend of Jesus?

So yes, Jesus does want to be our friend. Or maybe it’s better to say Jesus wants us to be His friend? I guess it depends on the context and the connotations we apply to His words when we apply them to our own lives. The thing to notice though, it is conditional. It’s conditional based on what we do or don’t do. Further, what we do is also conditional, based on our faith. If we don’t have faith, then actions without faith are useless.

For more on this whole idea of faith, belief, and doing things based on our faith, I encourage you to check out Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God?

He wants to be our friend. He told us that very plainly.

Worship Him? Absolutely. But all the time? I’m not so sure about that. Where’s the friend in that? “Friend” implies something that’s two-way. An interaction.

There are many movies, books, and other things that would lead us to believe that when we die we will become angels. I don’t know where that comes from, but it’s not in the Bible. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 6:3 Paul says,

Do you not know that we will judge angels?

It comes in a section that’s got an odd topic, so I’m not going into it here. However, here is the complete passage so you can check it out. It’s somewhat relevant for us here, so it’s a good idea to at least go through it. It does cover things that, if we have them in our lives, we must be willing and even want to have them pruned out of our Christian life.

Lawsuits Among Believers

1Co 6:1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers!

1Co 6:7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.

1Co 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

There are many references in the Bible to the angels worshiping God.

Are we too afraid of God to be a friend?

But there are a lot of references where God interrupts people in the middle of their “fear of God worship” – and says “Fear Not!”. As Philip Yancey points out –

We hear the words every Christmas season at church pageants when children dress up in bathrobes and act out the story of Jesus’ birth. “Fear not!” lisps the six-year-old angel, his bedsheet costume dragging the ground, his coat-hanger-frame wings flapping ever so slightly from the trembling of his body. He sneaks a glance at the script hidden in the folds of his sleeve. “Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Already he has appeared to Zechariah (his older brother with a taped-on cotton beard) and to Mary (a freckled blonde from the second grade). He used the same greeting for both, “Fear not! . . .”

These were also God’s first words to Abraham, and to Hagar, and to Isaac. “Fear not!” the angel said in greeting Gideon and the prophet Daniel. For supernatural beings, that phrase served almost as the equivalent of “Hello, how are you?” Little wonder. By the time the supernatural being spoke, the human being was usually lying face down in a cataleptic state. When God made contact with planet Earth, sometimes the supernatural encounter sounded like thunder, sometimes it stirred the air like a whirlwind, and sometimes it lit up the scene like a flash of phosphorous. Nearly always it caused fear. But the angel who visited Zechariah and Mary and Joseph heralded that God was about to appear in a form that would not frighten.

What could be less scary than a newborn baby with jerky limbs and eyes that do not quite focus? In Jesus, born in a barn or cave and laid in a feeding trough, God found at last a mode of approach that humanity need not fear. The king had cast off his robes.

Again – “Fear not – I want to be your friend”.

And then I think of all the times I’ve heard someone say something along the lines of – once we become a Christian, we have to watch out what we do – because once Christ is in us, we take Him everywhere we go and we don’t want to be doing something He wouldn’t like.

True enough. But that sounds more like acting out of fear, not out of friendship. You know, it is possible to feel like we shouldn’t do things because Jesus is “with us” and not have it be out of fear. Haven’t you ever been with someone and decided not to do something because you didn’t want to do something “like that” with them around. For their food even more than for your own?

Assuming one stays with the concept of fear God, don’t do anything wrong, I’d have to ask, why does He want to be our friend? Would you want to be friends with someone who was always afraid of you?

At best, if we get beyond the “don’t do anything wrong” concept, but still can’t get to the “friend” idea, it seems like that leaves us pretty much doing nothing. We don’t want to do anything wrong, go someplace or do something that God wouldn’t want us to do. But at the same time, we can’t bring ourselves to do something that we’d enjoy, because that’s too much of the “friend” relationship with God. It just seems wrong.

To go beyond that, to go to the concert with Jesus, I think that’s where He’d like us to be. I mean, it is possible to have fun while not doing something wrong. Isn’t that more fun? Wouldn’t you want to be friends with someone like that? We have a golf group at church. Non-Christians are invited to go with them, partly to show them that we Christians have fun too.

Three options

So that leaves us a choice to make between three options:

1. Fear God (as in be afraid of, not in awe of) and be consumed about possibly doing the wrong things.
2. fear God (as in be afraid of, not in awe of) but do not do anything, that way we don’t have to worry about possibly doing the wrong thing or about having too much fun and getting God upset about that.
3. Fear not (as in be afraid of, not in awe of) and be His friend.

It’s like flipping a coin. Yes, a two-sided coin.

One side is fear (option 1)
The other side is fear not (option 3).
Option 2 is like having the coin land on edge. Not likely to happen. On top of that, Jesus Himself says in Revelation 3:14-22 …

To the Church in Laodicea

Rev 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Rev 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Rev 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

… which translates (very loosely) to – if the coin did happen to land on edge, pick it up and flip it again!

Let’s look at the options again, with this “coin toss” idea in mind.

1. Fear God and be consumed about possibly doing the wrong things
   If we’re in this group, I venture to say that we may very well think we’re doing OK because haven’t done anything wrong. But, have we done anything right? Or would Jesus tell us we’re “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” – and that we should “buy from me gold refined in the fire”?
2. Fear God but do not do anything, that way we don’t have to worry about possibly doing the wrong thing or about having too much fun and getting God upset about that;
   This option reminds me of when the Priests always used to say that we can’t sit on the fence. Rather, we must decide where we stand with God. Jesus’ way of saying that would be “I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
3. Fear not and be His friend.
   This option gets us dinner with Jesus! How cool is that?

Jerusalem Ridge is six minutes and thirty four seconds long. So all this happened in less time than that. When it ended, I hit the back button on the iPad to listen to it again. By the time it was over the second time I couldn’t decide whether to cry or laugh because it felt so good.

Conclusion – What does God want from us?

To close this out, There’s a hymn – What a friend we have in Jesus. According to wikipedia, it was written as a poem by Joseph M. Scriven in 1855, to comfort his mother who was living in Ireland, while he was living in Canada.

I wonder. Do we even have a clue just how much of a friend we have in Jesus?

It’s not just us who wants to be with Him.

He wants to be with us!

Even the angels have the free will to follow God – or not. Witness Satan as an example of that. It would seem like it has to be something more than just whether we accepted His offer of love. It would seem to have to be more than worshiping Him 24/7. It would also seem to be more than just “not doing wrong”.

So what is it about us that makes God want to be with us?

Why does He want to be our friend? (fear not)

Why does He care so much about us? (He laid down His life for His friends)

Why is He so passionate about us? (I wish you were either hot or cold…)

I’m not going to answer this question for you.

God didn’t make this huge army of little robots that all do the same thing. For more on that, please see Are we all supposed to be the same?

God made us different. He did not make us all the same.

He has different expectations, desires, and wishes for each of us.

But, He does want to be friends with all of us.

It’s up to each of us to engage Him. To work on that friendship. To see what His desire is for us as an individual person. It’s up to God to make the first move gets into the idea that it’s up to God. The thing is, God already made the first move! Now it’s up to us to respond.

And then go for it.

The creator of everything wants to be your best friend!

As usual, the music is on right now while I’m writing.
At the moment, it’s a photo video from the Passion 2010 event.
Great music by Chris Tomlin.
The scene when I just looked over to the screen –

DO SOMETHING NOW

If you’re into music, see you at the concert.

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Image by Vicki Hamilton from Pixabay

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