Colossians 1:21 (NIV)
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
The verse appears to be another tricky one and (assuming the translation is good) needs to be picked apart a bit before it reveals its full (or rather, fuller) meaning. There is a nicety to be observed. There is alientation and then there is the standing of "enemy." The alientation is real. The enemy status is a figment of the human mind.
This is what goes through the heads of rebellious teens, no? (I was rather more bookish than rebellious...) The teen alienates himself from his parents. This is the painful part of individuation, I think. Painful for both parent and teen. But the teen believes that his parents have turned against them because of their behavior. That the parent is now an enemy and wishes them all hardships and evil. Usually, even among human parents with all the frailties and falleness that entails, there is no enemy status. The parent is ready to accept the child back, open arms, hugs and kisses.
This is the lesson of the Prodigal Son. The son may think the father wants to punish, that there is nothing higher on the parents list of things to do or wishlist. It simply isn't so. The parent loves. That is the normal way of things. They want the alientation to end. They want reconciliation. They'll do anything for it, sometimes even desperate things. Some parents, of course, go so far as to lower their standards to where a teenage boy will be comfortable. At the extreme, there are those parents who have been in the news for having keg parties at their homes or providing their children with drugs or arranging orgies.
Of course, this doesn't actually help their child. It doesn't prepare them for life, it does nothing to make them better. Desperate to reconcile, but not out of selfless love - I can only imagine that the parents who do this, sink to this level, are heartbroken at the rift they see between themselves and their child and will do anything - even illegal or unhealthy things - to seal the rift and stop the hurt in their own hearts whatever the cost to the child.
Not so with God. There is a repair for the break with humanity caused by sin, but it was at great personal cost to God Himself. If you think God is the enemy, notice that he has lain down his arms. The war started by "evil behavior" is over. In fact, it was always ever in the mind of the sinner and never in God's heart at all.
The verse appears to be another tricky one and (assuming the translation is good) needs to be picked apart a bit before it reveals its full (or rather, fuller) meaning. There is a nicety to be observed. There is alientation and then there is the standing of "enemy." The alientation is real. The enemy status is a figment of the human mind.
This is what goes through the heads of rebellious teens, no? (I was rather more bookish than rebellious...) The teen alienates himself from his parents. This is the painful part of individuation, I think. Painful for both parent and teen. But the teen believes that his parents have turned against them because of their behavior. That the parent is now an enemy and wishes them all hardships and evil. Usually, even among human parents with all the frailties and falleness that entails, there is no enemy status. The parent is ready to accept the child back, open arms, hugs and kisses.
This is the lesson of the Prodigal Son. The son may think the father wants to punish, that there is nothing higher on the parents list of things to do or wishlist. It simply isn't so. The parent loves. That is the normal way of things. They want the alientation to end. They want reconciliation. They'll do anything for it, sometimes even desperate things. Some parents, of course, go so far as to lower their standards to where a teenage boy will be comfortable. At the extreme, there are those parents who have been in the news for having keg parties at their homes or providing their children with drugs or arranging orgies.
Of course, this doesn't actually help their child. It doesn't prepare them for life, it does nothing to make them better. Desperate to reconcile, but not out of selfless love - I can only imagine that the parents who do this, sink to this level, are heartbroken at the rift they see between themselves and their child and will do anything - even illegal or unhealthy things - to seal the rift and stop the hurt in their own hearts whatever the cost to the child.
Not so with God. There is a repair for the break with humanity caused by sin, but it was at great personal cost to God Himself. If you think God is the enemy, notice that he has lain down his arms. The war started by "evil behavior" is over. In fact, it was always ever in the mind of the sinner and never in God's heart at all.
posted by Steven at 10:11 AM
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