March 04, 2010

Love

"16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

--John 3:16


How many Christians truly understand the depth of this? Human analogy fails to imitate the mere shadow of the wondrous glory of God's love. Amazing Grace? The word, "amazing" probably has less meaning today than it did when the song was penned, but, even so, God's love is far beyond amazing.

Now on to the bashing part. I've been ticked off for a long time about how homeschoolers treat (at least in their minds and actions) celebrities as fools and perhaps even living disasters, despicable and occasionally just simply disgusting.

While, on occasion, I couldn't disagree (I can't think, at this ungodly hour, of any really, truly disgusting celebrities, but doubtless there are enough that you can think of, once you wake up and read this...), but is our sin our most defining factor, let alone our preferences and minor decisions?

God did not come into the world to save the righteous. He came into the world because his love could have covered every single one of us, the foulest and most despicable included (think Hitler and Stalin...I believe they could have been saved). He didn't come here because of the little things that we humans are so good at finding and pointing out. He didn't come here because Miley Cyrus needed acting or voice lessons. He came here because every last one of us is depraved to every corner of our being, and every single one of us could use a God to center our lives around, instead of around ourselves.

God doesn't need us. He created us in the beginning to love and to be loved, and we, instead, turned around and disobeyed his single, simple rule for little more than curiosity...no, for much more than even the lust for power that did drive Eve's hand to take the fruit.

Think about it, readers. God created us, we turned from him, and continue to insult his very existence in the way we think, act, and speak. Every day, we sin, and every day, we forget to confess it to those it effects (that necessarily including God), and repent.

And this is us, it is we! We, the Israelites in the desert, set up idols in place of God...
We, David, lust after women not our own!
We, Jonah, flee from God, for we fear for our lives more than our souls!
And he, God, lets us live on in deplorable sin for thousands of years.

What in this makes sense? I've said before that love doesn't make sense, and that the idea of someone giving their life to save mine is only lessened in strangeness because it's been done before. Never before, though, was it for a better reason, never before was the sacrifice as pure.

And God will come one day, to put justice before mercy, and to put to shame and endless, horrible torture those who had the arrogance, self-centeredness, and foolishness to believe they were the most important factor in their lives.

If this is the fate of those who did not believe, how close was the call for us? Many men great and close to God rightly thought themselves not worthy of his kindness or mercy, and how much less worthy are we, whose prayer lives are intermittent, at best? David was "a man after God's own heart," and lusted after Bathsheba. Jonah finally did God's word, and wished more for the destruction of Nineveh than the advancement of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.

We are no different than the Israelites! David is a name now with more than one aching, tainted shadow. The best of the Bible's heroes had faults not unlike our own. Why, then, should God love us? Why, then, does the already flexible framework of space and time still hold our frail, physical existence in place? Why, then, are we still living in this world, sinning, confessing, repenting, and sinning again? Why should a righteous God tolerate that? Why should an all-powerful God actively work through our depraved and foul existences of this world, to effect the bringing to glory of others in this world? Why should God still love us?


Why?

When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun
we've no less days to sing God's praise, than when we first begun...


Soli Deo Gloria!


!Noah!

5 comments:

katie said...

Great post, Noah. I read it as part of my devotions early this morning. :)

p.s. I actually pray for the salvation of celebrities all the time *blush*.

Иơαħ said...

Thanks!

I'd do that too, if my prayer life was anything to boast about. XD


!Noah!

asdf said...

taht p0st wuz 2 long add a tldr to it!!!


Nah, I read it. Good points there. =D

Иơαħ said...

Thanks, Pork!


!Noah!

Ruthie said...

Wow, Noah. Great post. I agree. God's love is scandalous because it is so free.

Thanks for posting!