He always seems to leave room for doubt. Isn't that odd? Isn't that just like the nature of God? He leave us to choose, that is our gift of freewill in play.
I believe it has everything to do with the Nature of God. He is a God of love, and if you have been paying attention you know that love requires choice. You must have the ability to make a decision to love, hate, or be indifferent all on your own. Otherwise, we would have obligation, duty, responsibility, or something else that isn't love. A sense of obligation, duty, or responsibility may grow from love but not the inverse.
In a nation which has a volunteer armed forces, one joins the military because they love their country, and this leads to a feeling of duty to defend it. We don't have an intrinsic desire to join the service, which leads to the love of country. So, we love our country enough to die for it, that's giving up everything for the object of love.
I believe it has everything to do with the Nature of God. He is a God of love, and if you have been paying attention you know that love requires choice. You must have the ability to make a decision to love, hate, or be indifferent all on your own. Otherwise, we would have obligation, duty, responsibility, or something else that isn't love. A sense of obligation, duty, or responsibility may grow from love but not the inverse.
In a nation which has a volunteer armed forces, one joins the military because they love their country, and this leads to a feeling of duty to defend it. We don't have an intrinsic desire to join the service, which leads to the love of country. So, we love our country enough to die for it, that's giving up everything for the object of love.
Our God is a pretty smart God, and He understands human nature far better than we understand His Nature. Love is something that you do for another without any expectation of return, reciprocity, or consideration. What He desires most from us is our love, not sacrifice, not money, not our unblemished attendance at church, but our love.
This sounds pretty simple, at first, but there's more than just the lip service of love that He's asking for. If you love your mother or father, you want to do the things that make them happy. What good is my claiming to love my mom if I am stealing her cigarettes four times a day. My actions do not exhibit love, do they?
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
-Isaiah 29:13
He's looking for the genuine article, not the sales pitch. Even if you are the worst of sinners, He will accept your contrite heart over someone who feels that they are owed Salvation because they followed "the rules", or operated on grudging obligation.
If you have love in your heart towards God, how could you not have love for all His Creation? Do you see how the single act of loving God expands exponentially into love for all?
It's a logic puzzle in a way,
If you have love in your heart towards God, how could you not have love for all His Creation? Do you see how the single act of loving God expands exponentially into love for all?
It's a logic puzzle in a way,
God is everything
God is love
Love is everything
GOD=LOVE=EVERYTHING
God is love
Love is everything
GOD=LOVE=EVERYTHING
Everything that He desires from us and for us is Love. What a wonderful, beautiful God!
Your good works are the product of Salvation, not progress in salvation. You can never earn your way to God, His Grace or eternal Life by your own merit. You don't have the capacity. You don't even know how to be good in the way God is good. We are too selfish and self-centered by vice of the human nature that clouds our judgments and perspectives. What appears right and just is a shadow of God's Right and Just. We can't really do much about it, it's our nature. But God can by applying His corrective lenses tinted with the Blood of Jesus Christ.
Your good works are the product of Salvation, not progress in salvation. You can never earn your way to God, His Grace or eternal Life by your own merit. You don't have the capacity. You don't even know how to be good in the way God is good. We are too selfish and self-centered by vice of the human nature that clouds our judgments and perspectives. What appears right and just is a shadow of God's Right and Just. We can't really do much about it, it's our nature. But God can by applying His corrective lenses tinted with the Blood of Jesus Christ.
Praise God for his correction!
Praise Him for His Mercy!
Praise Him for His Love!
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