- I have a hard time being patient with ignorant/stupid people.
- I struggle with the sin of potty mouth when I am alone.
- I cannot forgive some sins - specifically those against children - I do not want to forgive people who hurt kids, and I do not even try to most of the time. (I know theologically God is the only one who can fully forgive sins of others, but I mean as far as Jesus tells us to forgive others "seventy-times-seven" type of forgiveness).
- I need at least 7 hours of sleep or I can be rather grouchy.
- Sometimes I struggle with insecurity with many things of which I should be confident or not care at all what others think anyway.
- I do not love everybody all of the time - or even half of everybody half of the time.
- I love some people more than others. Specifically, I love my family, my husband, and Jonah more than strangers.
- I would never sacrifice any of the above listed people to fix any of the things you have done wrong, let alone strangers.
- I could not and would not let my son Jonah to be hurt, let alone killed, to save anyone else, including you, no matter what relationship we would have.
These things came to mind yesterday during church when I enjoyed a sermon about Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 22. I was with my parents at Wall Highway Baptist Church and, their Pastor did a great job of painting the picture of Abraham's tremendous faith and obedience to God to follow through so quickly with this excruciatingly difficult task. He spent a good amount of time explaining how much Abraham loved Isaac, had waited 25 years for Isaac, how he was staking his whole future on this son, and how much he must have been upset at this request of God. Pastor explained how deeply Abraham must have been questioning and praying to God on the 3 day journey out to that mountain. How much he must have been begging the Lord to let there be any other way. He also talked about how although the Bible does not give the age of Isaac, the fact that Abraham strapped all the wood needed for the sacrifice to his back meant that this kid was pretty strong and big - probably between 10-14. Then he said something like this,
"This is just my opinion, and the Bible doesn't say so, but since I'm the one up here talking, you just have to listen anyway, but I believe that at some point, Isaac knew what was happening. After he asked his father where the sacrifice was, and got Abraham's ambiguous answer, he started to put 2 and 2 together, and knew what was coming. I also believe that a boy strong enough to carry all that wood on his back, up a mountain, would have been strong enough to fight off and overcome his father who was over 100 years old at this point. I believe that Isaac obediently, willingly, allowed himself to be bound to that altar. I believe he saw the pain on his father's face and closed his eyes and waited for the knife to come down."
WOW. I had not ever thought about whether or not Isaac struggled or laid there expectantly. I had thought about the trust issues he probably had with his father after that. I mean that's something to worry about, "Remember that time you literally almost killed me, Dad?" However, the pastor ended his discussion of Abraham and Isaac there and went on to draw the parallels between Isaac and Jesus. He hit on how they both had to carry the wood on which they would be bound and killed, up a mountain, how they both saw the pain of their father. Then he really spent quite a bit of time on how much it must have hurt God to see Jesus on the cross. How painful it had to have been to turn his face away from his only Son and allow him to die for all the sin of the world. How much it must have broken God's heart to allow Jesus to be tortured and murdered in such a gruesome way, to pay the price for the wickedness of all the rest of broken humanity. I could not do that. I love my little Jonah too much to let him die on purpose for anyone else. This kid die for you? No. Way.
God loves us so much more than is humanly possible. Back to my bulleted list, here's what I cannot do, but God does so well:
- He is patient with all people, waiting for them to come to a knowledge of His love and grace.
- He is sinless at all times.
- God can forgive all sins. All sins are equal in His eyes, and He puts them "As far as the East is to the West" when we ask for the blood of Jesus to cover them, and we form a relationship with Christ.
- God never sleeps. He's ever-present, all-knowing. We can never go too far for him to reach out and save us.
- God has no insecurities and does not need anyone to validate him. He wants a relationship with us, not just for us to know what he does, but who he is.
- God does love everybody all of the time. That blows me away.
- God does not love some people more than others. He sent his only son to die for ALL of us. Now, some people really do love God more than other people, and their lives show it, but God loves them just as much as he loves the people who don't even know him yet.
- God sacrificed his son, Jesus, to pay for all the bad, awful, wrong things we humans have ever done.
- God allowed his one and only Son, Jesus Christ to be beaten, humiliated, mocked, and murdered for YOU, so that he could have a relationship with you.
So, again, in recap, it's very very very good that I am not God. Think about what the world would be like if God were more like us. Sometimes I think we don't give God enough credit for how much bigger and way more awesome He is than us. He is our Creator, our Savior, our King, and he wants to be our Friend and our Lord. Some people think this is just about religion - but it's not! This is about a relationship with God. I like the way this guy clarifies the difference: I Hate Religion, but I Love God This explains it perhaps better than I am doing: You can Read it Here in simple steps backed up by the Bible. You can also watch this spoken word version of the gospel: Spoken word G.O.S.P.E.L.
God will wait patiently for you, until you die. At that point, you must have decided whether you love and follow Christ, or whether you have rejected the greatest showing of love anyone ever made for you. If you have decided to reject Christ in this life, then God has to reject you in the next one. I would really LOVE to see you in Heaven, my friend. So, contemplate the fact that your Heavenly Father gave his Son, so that He could have a relationship with YOU. Will you let him?
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