Many Christians grow up thinking that God wants something from them. God is up in heaven, deserving and demanding our worship. He wants us to sing, He wants us to read our Bibles, He wants us to give money, He wants us to teach Sunday School, He wants us to go on a mission trip. God wants something from us, and when we don’t give it to Him, He gets angry and zaps us with lightning.

That’s a jacked up way to look at God and if that were my understanding of God, I would rebel against it like many other Christians have. When Jesus came to earth, the Jewish people had twisted their religion to think that way about God. God was all about getting something from His people. And then Jesus came along and helped humanity rediscover God. He taught humanity to view God as our Heavenly Father.

Again, maybe you grew up with a selfish or absent earthly father, so that’s how you naturally think of your Heavenly Father. But God is heavenly, He’s a good father, He’s a perfect father.

And what does a good/perfect father want from his children? Nothing. If you love your kids, you don’t want anything from them, you only want things for them. That’s the one little word that can revolutionize your relationship with God, when you realize that God doesn’t want anything from you, He only wants things for you.

When my wife and I had our four kids, (I’m a flawed, selfish person), but even I never thought “we’re going to have these kids so they can take care of my needs and give me what I want and work for me.” We had kids because we wanted to give what we had to them! And that’s what we’ve done. The amount of money we’ve spent on ourselves over the past ten years is infinitesimally small compared to what we’ve spent on our kids. It’s the same for most parents. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. Why? Because we’re not psychopaths. We’re good parents.

A good parent doesn’t want anything from their kids, they only want things for their kids. God doesn’t want anything from you. He wants things for you. Let that truth blow your mind today.