God’s heart longs for us all, no matter if we long for him or not.
We might be offended by that but keep in mind that is because of our pride.
We want to earn things because it fuels our sense of self worth.
But what if we all have the same worth?
No matter where we are at in life.
Whether we have been successful or not.
“Good” citizens or not.
If we say that our worth comes from our behavior, we would not be worth anything at our birth.
Unfortunately many lives are ended before they even come out of the womb because of our low esteem of life.
Yet most parents will not agree.
Are not babies the most lovable creatures we know?
They produce smells and noises that are far from pleasant.
But we adore them!
We are the same to God.
He looks at us with such compassion.
His love really has nothing to do with what we did or did not do.
After all He made us.
So even our abilities come from him.
Therefore it is impossible to earn anything from God.
Now this does not mean that out behavior does not have consequences.
Yet life is a gift we cannot undo.
We can loose it though which may sound like a contradiction.
I do not mean that we will ever stop to exist.
But the place where we spend eternity depends on our submission to God.
In the bible to belief in God means to submit to him by the way.
Now death is only the end of our earthly existence.
There is another death however which I am talking about when I say we can lose our lives. It has to do with the quality of our life.
It is a spiritual death.
Basicly “death” is the absence of God’s manifest presence in our lives, whether here and now or in the hereafter.
(This does not mean we have te feel him all the time. Often we need to learn how to recognize him in our lives.)
We are eternal beings just like God is eternal.
Yet the kind of life we experience can vary tremendously.
I am not just talking about that one person might be happy and another not in this lifetime.
But since God made us to be in relationship with him we should not be surprised if life does not work very well for us and does not give us the fulfillment we so long for if we do not cultivate that connection with him.
The fact that God loves us does not mean we automatically go to heaven when we die.
That would be like being forced into a marriage you did not want.
God is not going to coerce you to spend eternity with him!
Yet this does have a consequence.
There is only one way we get to loose the wonderful aspects of our existence, and that is not through our behavior but through the absencse of a connection with God.
The same way rebellion affects a child’s relationship with its parents the same way it affects our relationship with God if we ignore him.
He does not love us any less but like we have seen earlier He cannot allow us to stay in rebellion if He wants to uphold the morality and peace of his kingdom.
Neither would it make us happy if we were allowed to continue in our rebellion forever.
We might think it would and again children are a good example here.
They probably do not like discipline initially, yet they are more happy when they are disciplined and restrained when needed than when they are given free range in everything.
They often need to be told how to behave.
There are many things they need to learn and eventually they are thankful for instructions and discipline because it leads to peace and is for their own good.
Also they have a need to know that someone else is in control.
It gives them a sense of safety.
The same way we need God’s instructions and supremacy over our lives.
Only then we come fully alive and have peace.
To be continued…
Creator's Joy 