God Is Not Like Your Uncle Ernie

Uncle Ernie worked for the railroad for over forty years. He could tell stories of his glory days when he did things that saved many disasters. The railroad was eternally indebted to Uncle Ernie. The railroad gave him a gold watch and nice retirement.

Uncle Ernie and Aunt Martha lived frugally. She took ten percent of each of her husband's paychecks and invested it. By the time Uncle Ernie died they were millionaires. That did not change anything about the way they lived.

A couple of years ago Aunt Martha died. It broke Uncle Ernie's heart. It seemed that the only thing that mattered to Uncle Ernie was family. Of course, Uncle Ernies wealth kept the family coming over. Now, Uncle Ernie can't seem to take care of himself so he is in a nursing home. The family still visits.

Each family member thinks that there is a good chance that Uncle Ernie will make him rich if he continues to visit. Each family member hopes that Uncle Ernie will give him something everytime he visits the nursing home. They all believe that Uncle Ernie has no use for all that money and each of them believes he can make better use of it. So, they visit and hope that Uncle Ernie will give them something for their troubles.

Uncle Ernie knows why they have come. He is truly glad to see them. He actually does give them a little of his money at times. It isn't regular. This way they keep coming and Uncle Ernie only has to give them something some of the time.

The family has made it clear. Uncle Ernie lives for them.

Some of Christianity has become like this. We go to church to see our Nursing Home God. He is so glad to see us that some of the time He gives us what we want. We all hope that He will make us rich someday. We tell the story to others. He has so much and He just wants to give it away. If we just believe and keep coming our ship will come in. God will give us more than we can imagine. He doesn't expect us to confess or have true hearts that please Him--O, No we can't even mention that when we meet! He really lives for us; certainly not us for Him.

So books are sold and huge churches are filled with this message of the Nursing Home God. He has had some really great stories to tell in His past but now His only power is to give away everything that He has.

Does this seem really shallow to you? Do you not think that God expects us to become conformed to the image of His Son? Don't you think that means there will be times when our devotion to Him will force us to look at our sins and see how horrible they really are?

No, I don't think God is like your Uncle Ernie.