Out of the box

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about defining what salvation is and how it is experienced. I talked about how as my view of God has gotten bigger, the "prayer of salvation", that prayer of accepting Jesus in my heart, has become increasingly inadequate to encompass the limitlessness of God.

I loosely paraphrased from memory what MJ had commented in the post "slipping off my tether". I told my friend that one must listen for the still small voice and when you hear it, do what it says. MJ's exact quote was "we are called by that still small voice that says "follow me". In following there is surrender, in surrendering, there is loss of control and in that there is real faith. The longer we seek, the more we learn of God, and the less we know". (Okay, so that was a really poor paraphrase!)

My friend had a real problem with the ambiguous nature of the idea of just following what a voice says, and I don't blame her. She talked about being deeply hurt by people who were responsible for her, and who claimed that they had heard God's call and were following it. We both are very aware that what those people who hurt her were focused on trying to quell their own psychological pain and inadequacy far more than on following God.

Here is where I struggle. If I make my definition of God bigger than I can understand, then I really can't put a solid parameter around what it looks like to follow God (ie. salvation). If I start defining what salvation really looks like, then I am moving back to a "God in a box" mentality

I think adding the part about surrendering, losing control, and stepping out in faith are critical elements. I also think that it is key to assess the fruit of any decision. Was there peace, joy, and love involved, or anxiety, fear, and abuse? I don't believe that the latter three (anxiety, fear, and abuse) come from God.

Ambiguous thinking about what constitutes following God doesn't protect those who could be hurt by people who practice self centered decision making masquerading as following God. People will still get hurt, especially the more vulnerable among us. But on the other hand, my friend was not spared hurt from the ones who claimed to care for her, even with a narrowly spelled out definition of following God.