Most people know about God, but rarely do they get to know Him enough to consider Him as a friend, says Christian singer Kirk Franklin, adding that this is such a wasted opportunity because God is the best friend anybody can ever hope to have.
"Most people see the angry, tsunami, non-protecting terror attack-allowing God who kills innocent people, rather than the friend. I get it. I really do," Franklin wrote in his Patheos blog. "And to this day I know it is the most difficult thing to communicate to your non-believing and even believing friends who see the mean, angry earth-destroying God. Truth is, that was me most of my life."
Throughout his childhood, Franklin said he was led to believe that God is terrifying. During those days, when he went to church, he would hear sermons that made him believe "God's gonna get you" and that there's a huge river separating Him from God because of His holiness.
"And although I had moments of closeness to him as a kid, who would play songs to him in the dark, and would climb on top of the roof at night and have talks with the stars, I still grew up with fear more than friendship," he admitted.
So what changed for Franklin?
The transformation happened when he received God's message of love. He was taught that God loves His people so much that He will never stop reaching out to them and calling them His sons and daughters. Franklin learned to realise that God is more like his best friend or big brother.
Now, he is encouraging others to share this message of positivity to others.
"If you want to help me change the way this world sees our saviour, please do the same. No scary painting is inviting. Who wants to get to know a God they don't think wants to get to know them? Stop painting these scary weird pictures of God to the world," he said.
The next thing that people need to do to form a more meaningful relationship with God is to realise who they are in God's big plan.
"If you keep telling me I am a son of the most high, even though I may not be acting like it right now, gives me something to look up to that's bigger than the choices I'm making at the present time," the singer explained. "You raised who I was in my image of myself. You told me I was valuable. So valuable that someone was willing to die so that I could live. That's motivation for change. That's a great place to start a beautiful friendship with the person on the other side of the bridge that religion built."
