Conviction is like the best kind of parenting: connected, embodied and not just there to tell us how we’ve messed up, but to show us the way. God isn’t the angry father in the sky or the distant mother. God is the good parent uniquely invested in our healthy development.
Hosea gives us the image of God nursing His (Her!) young children to health: Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I who took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them. (Hosea 11:3-4)
What a force of nature - the loving care of the mother-heart of God! The word mercy literally means womb-like loving-kindness and provision. Hope is the umbilical cord that tethers us to the womb (mercy) of God.
With a mother’s tenderness, the Spirit of God speaks clear truths to us that would crush us were they not revealed from love. Loving truth heals and matures us. God’s conviction is parenting that produces maturity and character. It’s not only for our good, it IS good!
Condemnation mimics a parental voice but produces the feeling of being an orphan. The orphaned heart will feel alone, underdeveloped and unsupported.
Ask: Jesus, what do you want me to know about how you move as a mother toward me?
Ask: Jesus, where have I been undeveloped or under nurtured? In what way have I felt like an orphan?
Ask: Jesus, what do I need from you, the Great Mother and Father, that will give me the ability to grow?
Let’s begin to value the conviction—or good parenting—of God and let’s condemn the voice of condemnation.
– Cayce Harris