Happy Moltmann Monday! I’m continuing to share selections that relate to original blessing from Moltmann’s work, and this one comes from his most recent book, The Living God and the Fullness of Life. After he quotes Psalm 22:9-10, he goes on to say:
Every child is born into God’s great yes to his or her life. An affirmation of life is necessary if life is to be affirmed, but it is not a matter of course, because life can also be rejected and denied. Our energy to affirm life varies in good and bad days, in times of stress and times of relief, in times of sickness and times of healing. It gives people a sure stance if they constantly remember that they were born with God’s great yes, and have therefore been affirmed– have been “wanted”–from eternity onward. We can also call this a firm assurance about existence, an assurance that can endure doubt and depression because it is stronger than them. How could we deny what God has affirmed ever since we were born?
And that’s the million dollar question isn’t it? How could we- why would we– deny what God has affirmed about us since the moment we were born? Sadly, that’s just what original sin does. It denies our deep connection to God, it denies God’s great yes to us, and instead claims we have a sin nature that separates us from God. Think of how different these stories are- the idea that we are born into God’s great yes, and the idea that we are born into separation and sin from God. Choose your story wisely.
When you choose God’s great yes, original blessing, you are given a sure stance, an anchor, an unwavering home, regardless of what is happening to you in your own life. If you are to be a person anchored in grace, safeguarded in peace, held in love, you do so by accepting that God is in relationship with you, simply because you belong to God and you are part of God’s good creation.
What would it mean for you to receive God’s great yes? What would it mean for you to accept what God has already and always affirmed? What if you looked at yourself today, treated yourself today, as someone who has been wanted from eternity onward?
What if you treated others that way, too?
Add Your Voice!