BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

The climax and most important part of the book is, for me, the conversation between Mack and the Spirit.  It begins with the Spirit asking Mack about his children, then asking him which one he loves the most.  Mack, on the way to his own answers about the love of God, responds that he doesn’t love any child more than the others, but he loves them differently. 

The Spirit asks, “What about when they do not behave, make bad choices, or embarrass you in front of others?  How does that affect your love for them?

Mack’s response shows his own dawning awareness of what the Spirit is trying to teach him:  “It doesn’t, really…they are still my son or my daughter, and they will be forever.”

“And now you love your children much the way the Father loves his,” says the Spirit. 

Finally, the Spirit teaches Mack (and us) a lesson about judgement, by giving Mack the opportunity to put all his ability to use…juding God and the human race.  Mack is dumbfounded by the idea, and as the Spirit pelts him with question after question, such as, “What about men who beat their wives?  What about the man who preys on innocent little girls?  Is that man quilty?  Should he be judged?”

Mack screams in reply, “Yes!  Damn him to hell!”

“Is he to blame for your loss?  What about his father, the man who twisted his son into a terror…How far do we go back?  This legacy of brokenness goes all the way back to Adam.  But why stop there?  What about God?  God started this whole thing.  Is God to blame?”

“Yes!  God is to blame!”

“Then,” says the Spirit, “Since  you are able to judge God so easily, then you can certainly judge the world.  You must choose two of your children to spend eternity in God’s new heaven and new earth, but only two.  And you must choose three…to spend eternity in hell.”

How could God ask him to choose among his own children?  For him, it wasn’t about performance; it was about his love for them. 

When Mack refuses to judge, the Spirit teaches him that he has judged them worthy of love, even if it cost him everything.  That, she says, is how Jesus loves.  (The Shack, pp. 160-163)

Mack’s problem, as with many of us, was that his understanding of God was wrong.  In the shack, Mack learned that from the beginning, human beings have embraced evil, but God has responded with goodness.  Mack’s daughter, Missy, was a victim of that evil, and no one is immune from it. 

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday