God Wants You

Sadly most of us don't get it that God wants us in a relationship with Him.  Until we see an inkling of what He is really like and understand Him, it comes across as Him giving us a rule book and then wanting to punish us whenever we mess up.  To confuse matters worse I have met Christians that made me feel Bible thumped.  That it was God's way or the highway.  This is the truth, but does not express anything about the loving relationship God uses to teach us why His way is better.

First, God starts off by giving.  For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (NIV).  Many people know this verse so well that the depth of it may be lost.  If we read on we learn more of what God intended.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:17-18 (NIV).  The last part is the truth that feels more like a good ole Bible thump, but Jesus came to give us the chance to be reconciled once more with God.  If God did not love us, why would He bother sending His Son here in the first place?  He could have definitely changed the world to something else in the blink of an eye with one voiced command.

To push this show of love further Jesus died on the cross for us.  He was cut off from the Father as He took on all our sins as He became the final sacrifice of blood atonement required by God.  Now He is risen up to heaven again to be our advocate before God's judgment seat.  And until His return we have the Holy Spirit as a counselor until we also get to go home to heaven.  Why would Jesus bother doing this if He did not love us?  Sure it is sometimes a tough love, but I honestly would be worried if I wasn't corrected when found doing a wrong.  How else do we learn?  If we had to learn about life and love without guidance, where would we be?

Yes, God has rules, but so do our earthly parents.  There are some things in the natural realm of this world that are the law regardless of what we think of it.  Gravity makes us fall.  Fire burns.  Lack of oxygen makes us suffocate.  These are things we take for granted as unchangeable truth.  God is also unchanging so His laws won't change either.  His laws are not there to condemn us, but to convict us into realizing our way led into something bad.  And just like with real parents, God is waiting for us to voice our confession about it and He will help us through the Holy Spirit to learn how not to do it again.  He knows everything about us even before we do it, but His love allows us to have the chance to confess and make things right again.  He doesn't mind that we fall down a few times in the learning process.

God has a reason for His laws so that we may know light from dark, good from evil.  We may not get it all at once, but life is a learning process, a growing process.  Step by step we learn and slowly unravel the awesome mysteries of God and His creation.  We have the choice to walk with Him in a loving relationship or go our own way.  I'm finding the adventure of this life far more fulfilling with Him than without no matter what the circumstances are.