Bobo's Back!

Matthew 6:9 “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name” 

Some of you may remember me talking about Bobo in recent years, a dog in my neighborhood where I grew up.  He was chained up in the yard at his house, all day long, rain or shine, near the softball field where we played.  Bobo was a huge black dog with matted fur and very large teeth, and barked nonstop.  

Unfortunately, Bobo hadn’t been treated right, he was abused, beaten, and had cold water thrown on him by his unfit owner.  Often times, Bobo would get loose, and word got out real quick that “Bobo’s loose!!!”  I can’t say I blame him, if I had an owner like that, I would run for my life too.  But he was a terror to be reckoned with. 

It’s sad to say, but when people outside the church hear what some Christians are saying about God, they too run as far away from God as they possibly can.  When they hear, “God caused my accident to bring me closer to Him”, “God took my child”, “God sent the 9-11 attacks, He is judging America”, “God wants us poor to keep us humble”, “God is mad at me”, and so on.  This stuff makes God sound more like the “godfather” instead of God our Father.  

If a child approached his parents the way “religion” has conditioned us to, it would be considered child abuse.  For some reason, when it comes to tragic and unexplainable negative events, they want to place the blame on God.  This is SO opposite of the truth of who God really is and His immeasurable, unconditional, limitless, unearned, intense love that He has for all of mankind.  He is not angry, He poured out His anger and wrath on Jesus over 2,000 years ago.  Jesus freely took all sin, past, present and future on Himself on the cross and said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).  

If you’ve been an angry “Bobo” Christian who has suffered from the deception of who you have assumed God to be, you need to take a good look at the Word!  God is good and there is no fear in approaching God.  We need to believe that ourselves and shout this good news from the rooftops.  We need to make it perfectly clear that every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17), God has no sickness and heartache and death to give.  

You need to get into a church that speaks of God’s goodness and grace.  You need to receive God’s love for you, a love so passionate and powerful that He sent His precious Son, His only Son to die for you and take your sin to the cross.  Don’t be like Bobo, live your life loved by God for all the world to see!