There is this tool for sharing the Gospel that begins with the line, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." The problem today is that the reaction of some people is what I stated in the title, "Why shouldn't God love me? Isn't that what God is suppose to do?" Gone is the idea of the wrath of God.
When the priests entered the Holy place they knew that God would judge them with death if they approached Him in the wrong or common way. God had prescribed how they should approach Him and they knew that they had to come to Him that way and that way only.
Yes, God is a God of love but He is also a God who judges sin and sinners. God does not love us because we are lovable but because He is God.
4 comments:
A friend sent me this comment:
Wow! I have never personally heard such an arrogant (or ignorant) response to "God loves you…" as "Why shouldn't He love me!" I'm curious: the people who have said that - were they serious? (not expressing mock conceit or sarcasm)???
I don't know if that kind of attitude indicates a denial of the “wrath of God” or rather if it shows that, though they may think God loves them (or that it’s the ‘right thing’ to say), they have never actually personally received God's love nor sought relationship with the God who absolutely does love them.
"Why shouldn't He love me!" sounds more like something a Pharisee (or the elder son in the "parable of the prodigal") would say... or a person who claims to be a Christian but has not actually received the love of God, Life in Christ. They are maybe depending on their own merit for love and acceptance (or just plain taking His love for granted). Either way, clearly they don't really know God nor love Him and they are still missing out on genuine relationship with Him...
I agree with my friend's comment that it is an arrogant (and ignorant) response. The post-modern young evangelical does not want to think about God's wrath. They are moralistic, theraputic diests. They believe that God wants them to be happy.
Here is the rest of my friend's comments.
The other (I would guess more common) response to “God loves you…” might be "How could He love me?" which sadly also indicates a lack of knowledge of God. People who question His capability to love them likely do not draw near to God either because they have a misunderstanding of Him. They may see Him as a God of wrath who is angry at the world (or at them personally). They don't recognize that, in His LOVE, He has already fulfilled the incredible plan of reconciliation and restoration of relationship with Him through Christ. Jesus' words from the cross "Father forgive them" reveals the Father's heart and proves His unfathomable love and omnipotence - He is far above even man's hostility and rejection. (In His redemptive way, He used even that cruel and totally unjust murder as a means by which to provide salvation to a world that had rejected Him!!!) In truth, His killers did not take His life, He laid it down! There is no greater love than His love!! People who ask "How could He love me?" maybe have a sincere and reasonable attitude of humility but by believing that He couldn't possibly love them, they are reducing in their own minds the power and grandness and sufficiency of His love, minimizing the implications of His sacrifice - Victory over sin and death! They don't understand or believe who He is and that they need not strive to earn His favour (impossible!) but rather to simply repent and believe and receive the gift of Life He offers in Christ.
I agree with your statement "God does not love us because we are lovable but because He is God". God's love for us is because of Who He is, not because of what we do. Unfailing love and compassion, mercy, Life and grace... is who He is and His nature does not change based on our behaviour. (That would be arrogant to think that we could have any such "power" over our Creator. He is far above any attempts at manipulation.) As you alluded to in that same blog entry, our acceptance depends on how we approach God - there is only one Way - through Christ (the Door, the Gate, the Cleansing Living Water, the Altar, the Sacrifice, the Covering, the Fragrance, the Light, the Bread of Life, the Priest, the Mercy Seat... Christ, whose Victory over sin and death tore the veil that separated us from Holy God's presence...). And even beyond being approachable through Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant, He gave us His Presence by His Spirit within us as a “deposit guaranteeing what is yet to come”!!! We have become the Tabernacle – the dwelling place of Almighty and Holy God! (WOW!)
It sounded when you mentioned God's “wrath” that you seemed worried or frustrated that people might overlook or ignore that aspect of God's nature. Was His wrath not directed at sin because of what it does to the people He loves? Because of His love for us, He hates sin because it is a "determined and deliberate independence" from Himself (Oswald Chambers). People who choose independence from God also choose it's consequences - the worst of which is separation from the God who loves them. (Unfortunately, clearly each act of sin not only affects those who choose it but it also often hurts many others...) To me, that kind of wrath, directed at that which destroys us, is actually more remarkable evidence of His love!
He wants first of all what glorifies the Son - and that happens to also be what's best for us - faith and Life in Him. I like how a pastor friend has described faith as "a posture of receptive reliance".
So, what would be a more appropriate response to "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life"?
Maybe the problem is with this statement (if it stands relatively alone), more than the response to it. That statement seems to me to be an overly simplified version of a much deeper Truth. If people were presented with, understood (as much as a human mind can understand!) and believed the depth of the whole picture of His love, maybe instead of the arrogant “Why shouldn’t He love me?” they would respond with something more like, "Incredible isn't it?! Beyond comprehension!! Irresistable!! Makes me want to draw near to Him and know Him more and more!!, to receive that kind of love!" - maybe leading to developing a purpose in life like Paul described, “My determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person.” Philippians 3:10 (Amplified)
What do you think?
What I meant by a moralistic, theraputic, diest is that there is a current thought about evangelicals about being moral which is a good thing and they are diests in that they believe in God but I wonder if they believe in the God of the Bible or a sanitized God? The part that I have the most problem with is the theraputic aspect of their belief. They see God as Someone or Something that wants them to be happy. God wants us to be holy first. Happiness is often a byproduct and is certainly not primary.
Post a Comment