the shack

*originally posted february 15th, 2009*

I know that the people that like this book are in love with it—it’s the best book they’ve ever read. For others it rocks their theology. I’m only on chapter 10, so I don’t quite have a fair say yet. Something about it seems a little sketchy to me, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. On the other hand, there are definitely some powerful truths in it…
I have grown up knowing that when Jesus came to earth, he was fully God and also fully man. Seems like a mystery, but that’s just who he is. So when Jesus heals people, performs miracles, all those God-like acts, it’s because he’s God, right? I thought that until page 100 of this book. Here, this guy suggests that in Jesus choosing to be fully human, he limited himself, and that all the acts of God were a result of God living through him—the perfect relationship between man and God—an example to us all. Check this part out:
“So, when he healed the blind?”
“He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life (God) and power to be at work within him and through him…only as he rested in his relationship with me, and in our communion—our co-union—could he express my heart and will into any given circumstance.”
Wow! Sorry if that’s like, Bible 101 and everyone else knows that, but apparently I missed that part of Sunday School. I have never ever thought about God and Jesus having that type of relationship—the perfect relationship between God and man that I can set as a model for my own relationship with him. Wow.
A beautiful picture that I love from this book is the idea that our soul is like a garden, full of beautiful wildflowers, all tangled and woven together into what seems to us like a mess. But God sees it as a work of art—a work in progress. He sees from above how each plant that surrounds the others is an integral part of our life, how it fits together, and how he’s going to use it for his glory. Then in chapter nine, the main character and the character that represents the Holy Spirit work one morning to entirely tear up the particular garden that represents the man’s soul. They uproot everything…the deepest of roots, the plants that seems poisonous, even the beautiful, flowering plants. I love the parallel here. I remember a professor in college once telling our class that ‘brokenness is the key to growth.’ We have to go through times where we’re ripped to the core, where our plants are entirely uprooted, and it hurts, it doesn’t feel good. Sometimes we might wish that life would just leave us alone. But through it all, we grow in Christ so he can put us back together in his image. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but as much as it may hurt, I want him to do his work, because I want to be made more like him.
have a blessed day.