The analogy of grips...

**An oldie but a goodie**

When a parent is escorting their child across a crowded parking lot by the hand, there are two grips at work. The first is the child's rather questionable grip on the quardian - which is independable at best. Sometimes the child grips firmly, other times they do everything in their power to break free. The strength of the child's grip comes and goes with their mood swings but this is irrelevant because the second grip has been at work all along. The parents grip on the child. Thank God for the child's safety was not based on the child's grip but on the parents grip. From the child's perspective they are imprisioned slaves but from the parents perspective they are safe in their care. There is always two grips even though one is sometimes rather questionable and two different perspectives for the same occurence. The same is true of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. God has got us no matter how hard we sometimes try to get away and no matter how far we feel we are from Him. Throughout the bible you can find 'child's grip' passages. Practical, tactical and teaching us how to grip back. On the other hand the 'Father's grip' passages teach us how to find peace and rest in God's guardianship. It's important to know and recognise which passages are which. Otherwise we can become obsessed with gripping when we should be resting and vice versa. Both are important. In life and in the Church too much emphasis can be put on gripping the Father's hand and we can become pre-occupied with trying to please God with good works. The child's grip passages are there to help us FEEL closer to God - not to actually MAKE us closer to God. Believers are already as close to God as they'll ever be, no matter how we feel on a day to day basis - there are no varying degrees of salvation. Unbalanced priority given to child's grip passages can keep Christians from finding peace and rest, wanting to grip firmly all the time and beating ourselves up when we can't do it. Sure, we feel closer to God when we're gripping back, but that's only a human emotion. Parents don't love their children any less when they misbehave.