Once His infinite engulfing stream of love has covered me over, so that I know I’ll be okay no matter what, He’ll look at me and say (in so many words), “Brad, you have no idea what you missed out on, because you were so afraid of so many things. Remember that music thing?” I’ll cringe and go, “No. I mean, well, Yes.” Then I’ll try to change the subject. “Hey, that’s a lovely beam of light shining over there! It’s so radiant and colorful! Is that an angel or…”
He’ll cut me right off and stare me down, forcing me to face the harsh truth about my behavior -but in a loving way, of course. I will have no choice but to face the music. “Do we have to bring that up right now?” I'll ask. And He’ll say. “Yes, I want to talk about it. Listen, Brad, it was you, not me. You didn’t give me much to work with, you know? You had a choice, my son, and you chose to indulge your fears.”
I believe we’ll all get a little spanking on that day. And not for the things we think we should. We are all so horrified about being called out for our embarrassing sins, but what about all those times we just crapped out because we didn’t have the guts to do something that would have made a big difference in our lives or in someone else’s life? I can imagine God’s comments to the line-up of men from the various churches I’ve attended over the years - his commentary on how we all fell short of our true potential in life:
“My child, you could have accomplished tremendous things with your career! And the influence you could have had for my kingdom! But you were so timid. You held back. Why?”
“Son, you could have paid a little more attention to your wife, and at least tried to learn how to put her before yourself, but you were so self-centered and terrified of intimacy! So much love was left out. You apparently didn’t have the cajones for a real loving relationship.”
“You? You could have stooped down a bit to see other people’s points of view once in while. I hoped you would have become a little more humble, and learned to listen, but you were so insecure with your fragile little ego, that you had to be right all the time. Why were you so afraid of being vulnerable?”
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