While I love talking about the story of Mary, I want to take a couple steps back. Why? Have you ever wondered, why? Let me explain it to you from my perspective. Someone who can create a whole world of animals, humans, plants, and don’t even get me started on the complex details of the universe (something humans haven’t fully discovered yet in the year of 2020). Not only did He do this, but He did this in seven days.
RE: Gen (Creation in 7 days)
Why in the world would He want to come and participate in being human, or more importantly die one a cross (one of the worst deaths by far)? If I had to give a short answer to this question, I would say because of His character and as a cherry topper to this dessert of an answer I would say His love for us. Don’t worry though, I’m not giving a short answer. Haha
RE: Just one of His characteristics and the reason we cannot fathom this mystery. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” – Romans 11:33
Let’s go to the topic of sin, and I’m going somewhere with this - just trust me. When God created us, He gave us the gift of free will. This means you get to choose to make the right decision or not. Now, let’s be real, we can’t make the right decisions all the time (Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalms 51:5).
Now that I’ve covered that, let talk about more about character. More importantly the character of God.
Now I’m fully aware of the fact that Christ’s character is a topic in and of itself. I could be here forever talking about, so I’m going to do two things. The first thing I’m going to do is direct you to Galatians 5. If you’re feeling spicy, you can read the whole bible to learn in great detail the character of God. Now the second thing I want to do is zoom in on three special characteristics of God. The characteristics that I’m zooming in on are: God is love, God is just, and God is fair and full of grace.
Have you ever wondered why God didn’t just say you know what, I love you and I forgive you, so you can go to heaven? The thought of him dying on the cross used to seem so extra to me. It made me ask myself, You are God, don’t You make the rules? While He is and He definitely does make to rules, the cross and the entire purpose behind it has to do with His character. If Jesus said, “I forgive you, let’s pretend like it never happened.” He would still be forgiving, but that wouldn’t be fair. When we look at God, knowing his characteristics is so important because that’s part of knowing Him. One thing someone once told me that I think is so cool is, God won’t go out of his character. What this means is God unchangeably fair, and He will not hold a grudge. It’s not Him. Another thing that is really comforting to know is God is the same yesterday as he was today.
"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” – Duet 32:4
HE NEVER CHANGES. Now this is where the cross comes in. If you’re a fair God then you can’t let sinful people into heaven, but what about love. God’s word says in Romans 3:23, we are all sinners. One of the characteristics of God is love. He defined himself as love.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16
So how can God allow people to go to hell if he is loving? Before I explain this, I want to bring your attention to something. I said allow, not put. God doesn’t put people in hell. Through his actions on the cross and even through the gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) it is very evident that Jesus is doing everything he can you give you the chance to spend eternal life with Him without taking away your free will and/or your right to choose. So, back to the question. How can God allow people to go to hell if He is loving?
If I could have some awesome transition music, this is where I’d put it. Short answer the cross, but by now I think you know I’m not about to just give you the short answer to this question.
What if God makes a way for you not to go to hell? What if He came down as a person, a perfect person, and paid the price for all the sin we’ve done? The answers to those questions is, he did. Wow! Now that I’ve answered the “what if” questions, I want to explain something. For me as a person who has sinned, it’s very hard for me to have someone tell me I’m wrong. However, for someone to tell me or even make me feel like I’m wrong when I’m not wrong, is a can of worms I just don’t want to get into because that is something I can’t stand. Just think about it, Jesus came to earth and lived about 33 years without sinning once and suffered the punishment of someone who lives in sin daily. With that being said, I can’t even start to image what it’s like to pay the ultimate price. Just think about it. If He would have not made that decision, I would be on the very deserving highway to hell. Because of the LOVE and GRACE He decided He would take my place, your place, and everyone else’s place, so we could chose to spend eternity with Him. Again, WOW!
This is a gift I’m still trying to learn how to except, and truly enjoy it for what it’s worth. If you want to know more on this topic or how you can receive this gift in your life, please feel free to enter your information in the contact me box, I will be more than willing to guide you in the right direction. Please know I am not selling anything to anyone, and your contact information will not be sold. It will be kept 100% private.
Comments