Let My Love Open the Door

I heard an interesting illustration this week; God was compared to a parent whose child had been tortured and killed.  Rather than seeking vengeance, he chooses to offer forgiveness.  I intended to write a this illustration as if it happened to me and my son, but I didn't.  No matter how powerful an illustration it would be, I can't bring myself to write about my son being brutalized.  As I was hearing this illustration, I had a mental image of my young son being nailed to a cross by evil hands.  This image was almost more than I could bear; and I found myself moved to tears by it.  If it were in my power, I would never allow anything to hurt my son.  I would freely give my last breath and every ounce of the limited strength I possess to protect him.

In Genesis 22, the Lord tested Abraham to see if he would trust God and obey, even to the point of sacrificing his own son.  God of course had no intention of allowing the sacrifice to take place, but was rather using this test to demonstrate to future generations the incredible faith of Abraham.  I sincerely hope that God never chooses to test me in any way similar to this; I can quite confidently say now that I would not pass, and I'm nearly certain that any parent reading this agrees with me.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Hebrews 11:17-19

Many Christians, myself included like to talk about giving everything that they have to God.  I wonder if any of us would go to this extreme if God asked us to?  Wouldn't it be incredible to have such a close relationship with God that He could literally speak to you and there would be no shadow of doubt that you were hearing His voice?  Abraham was a man; he was not a God.  If Abraham could have this type of relationship with God, it stands to reason that we could also.  For myself, while I find it easy to make this statement I have tremendous difficulty believing anyone who claims that God has spoken to them.

Why is it that I am so quick to dismiss the idea of God speaking?  I honestly cannot say.  What I can say is this: the incredible beauty, complexity and vastness of the universe makes me skeptical of the idea that it could have come into being through random chance.  The more I learn, the more I am convinced that some sort of incredibly powerful being whose existence is not tied to our universe had a hand in designing it.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:20

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Psalm 19:1

If there truly is a creator of the universe, it stands to reason that developing a relationship with this being would be a tremendous asset to anyone.  This is where religion comes in; religion is defined as “the service and worship of God or the supernatural”.  There is a problem here however.  We as created beings are strictly confined to our universe, we cannot escape.  There is nothing we can do or not do to change this fact.  In nearly every major religion on earth, the general idea is that we as humans must perform certain tasks and/or rituals to reach God.  The problem is, God by necessity must exist outside of the universe.  We cannot get there.  If we are to have a relationship with God, He must make the first move.

Humans do not like the idea of being controlled.  We like to believe that we are in control of our destinies.  So here we are, trapped in our particular form of existence while all around us we see incredible complexity and deep inside realize that there must've been a designer.  (You might say that not everyone does realize this, but I would suggest that if we did not believe this way, society could not exist; nearly every human would rather choose to indulge in whatever pleasures are available during our time in this life.)  We realize there is a designer, and because this designer is so much more powerful than we are, we become angry and rebel against this authority.  So long as we are in a state of rebellion against God, we cannot have a relationship.

This is why God chose to send an emissary.  God chose to come to earth in human form.  Our acts of rebellion however must still be dealt with.  No matter who else it may hurt, every single immoral thing that we do is an act of rebellion against God therefore, God is the only one who has absolute authority to forgive us.  He, in his human form, Jesus chose to accept the penalty for our sin.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

He loves us.  For reasons that are beyond our comprehension, the creator of the universe chose to also create beings, with the decision-making capacity to either choose to have a relationship with Him or not.  The next move is ours.  Will you choose to take advantage of your opportunity to know the creator of the universe or will you choose to continue on the path of rebellion?

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:15

Which path will you choose?