Father God, I ask of You because I believe in You. I know You can do all things and that nothing is impossible for You to do. You are Creator! What is it that You CAN NOT do, or maybe WILL NOT do?
You will not MAKE US love You because of how You created us with free-will. Animals have not been made like us; made in Your image. You made man to rule over them, to use them for our needs and enjoyment. They just do what You made them to do. But we are free to choose ‘whatever,’ as we live out our life on earth in these male and female bodies that You gave us along with all the ways we are made in Your image.
You will not MAKE US choose what to believe or to believe in. BUT! You have NOT left us on our own limited understanding and knowledge; for You have created all things in such a way that Your creation reveals that there IS a Creator. Your Word also tells us this. But atheist scientists who have tried to prove Your Word (the Bible) false, and who didn’t want to believe in a “Creator” such as Yourself (that they are accountable to), have come to believe, after all their ongoing scientific research and discoveries, that You are the Creator of the universe and of all living things; therefore we are all accountable to You. Most have become believers in Your Son! Others do their best to keep trying to prove that You do not exist.
Father God, You could MAKE US obey You, but then that would contradict who You are: You are love. It would go against Your ‘laws’ of love “do not murder, do not cheat or steal, etc. and against Your ‘principles’ of love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
We read this passage about ‘love’ and apply it to how WE should love one another. But since love originated with God, then this passage in 1 Corinthians defines who God Himself IS. “We love because God FIRST LOVED US!” He has said in His Word that He created us FOR HIS LOVE; to “pour out His love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit” when we believe in what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross out of His love for us. God wants children out of love and for no other reason. People have children for so many reasons, other than true love, but God has only one ‘pure and holy’ reason: the wonderful glorious eternal family of God Almighty. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind can conceive or imagine – what God has planned and prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
God is patient and kind; that’s what His grace and mercy are simply all about. “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17) How many of us have cried out (more than once) to God to send His Son and end all this evil on the earth?! “Come Lord Jesus COME!” But Jesus told us to just put our faith in Him who strengthens us and in His promises that keep us faithful with hope, and to learn from Him how to ‘patiently’ endure the evil day – as His Day approaches – making sure our love (kindness) does not grow cold. We are seeing and experiencing what happens when people live by fear and hatred and a hunger for power.
“God does not envy; what is there for Him to envy when He has it all as Creator and can create anything He wants? God does not boast; He simply gives us the truth when we ask Him for it, seek Him for it. God is not proud: He is not SELF-gratifying; He is not SELF-pleased but rather He is ‘pleased’ with us – His children who love Him by our own choice to do so, day by day. It’s His desire to give us all things good in life to completely sustain us and profit us.
God is not SELF-seeking; He FULLY KNOWS WHO HE IS and that there is no one or thing that He fears! He does not ‘dishonor’ us in this life; we dishonor ourselves and each other. He wants to honor us by rewarding us for our humble faith in Him. God wants us to have all that He has to give!
God is amazingly ‘patient,’ doing all He can to show us the way to His love and Life in His Son.
God ‘keeps no record of wrongs,’ meaning that He has provided us a Savior (His own perfect Sacrificial Lamb to die in our place) so that He can and WILL forgive us of all our wrong-doing. The only records He keeps is the book of all we’ve done with this life, good and bad, but He also has another book called “the Book of Life” that has written in it all the names of those who have CHOSEN Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. This Book does not allow God to keep a ‘record of wrongs’ since the disciples of Christ have all their sins covered by the blood of God’s own beloved Son, Jesus Christ. What God forgives God forgets.
God does not delight in evil because there is NO EVIL in Him nor in His Kingdom will evil be allowed to enter. Is God evil because He created Hell, eternal torment and separation from all the goodness of God; the place He created for the devil and the angels that followed Satan out of heaven? Why did God’s number one angel (Lucifer he was called then) get kicked out of heaven by God their Creator? “Love does not envy!” Lucifer envied God’s Son, and the honor and authority that the Father gave the Son. Satan tempts us to envy and to take what doesn’t belong to us. God is jealous, but God does not envy.
Jealousy is something altogether different; for it has to do with “relationship” and “vows.” A man becomes jealous when his wife becomes interested in someone else. A wife becomes jealous in the same way. A parent can become jealous of a person their child seeks to replace them with, or a child can become jealous when they feel their mom or dad has made someone else or something else more important than them. Jealousy is about relationships. Envy is about power and covetousness (wanting what others have and even setting out to take what doesn’t belong to you), as Lucifer did in heaven.
God rejoices with the truth; He rejoices over those who seek the truth from Him ‘in His Word’ and when we ask Him for the supreme wisdom of truth; for when we ask, “He will give it generously and without finding any fault in us.” (James 1:4-5)
God always protects; He protects what is good and holy; He protects who His Son, our High Priest, loves and defends. The Father completely trusts the Son; for they are one in all things. Jesus told us to pray to our Father, “…and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” God also protects the earth. People are so afraid of the earth running out of what we need to stay alive and prospering, and of the earth becoming over-populated, but the earth belongs to God. No matter what man thinks and tries to do in order to “save the earth,” HE CAN NOT! That is God’s doing. All man ends up doing is make things far worse on the earth when he rejects God and what God says in His Word about what is still to come, and why.
God always hopes! What does He hope for? God hopes that people will come to know Him by the truth in His Word that He has made available to all; by His Son that He sent to show us Himself and the Kingdom that is to come. God not only hopes, but He has done GREAT THINGS and WONDERFUL THINGS (even beyond our understanding) for all the human race – in order to see HIS PERFECT HOPE REALIZED.
God perseveres. What God started – God will complete. God has His “redemption” plan that can NOT be thwarted, but WILL BE COMPLETED in His own time, and with perfect exactness of His good purpose. God will not change His mind. God Himself never changes or evolves. That’s why the false-belief of the evolution of man from the ape or whatever – is a lie. God made man in HIS IMAGE. God is not an ape or whatever else God has created. God WILL HAVE HIS WAY!
God always trusts. Does God trust everyone? Yes! He trusts each of us to do what is in our hearts, whether right or wrong, evil or good. And because He trusts in that way – God uses the wicked as well as the righteous to do His will and purpose. Does God trust everyone with His Word? No, but He does allow people to do what they want with His Word, and believe what they want about His Word, and to say what they want about His Word and Himself. Which takes us back to the beginning of this article that God has given us all FREEWILL. Now if that’s not love, I can’t imagine what is! And, although hard to swallow, the love of God includes how we WILL ALL FACE consequences and His final judgment for our freedom to choose, to do and say, and believe in whatever and whoever.
“The LORD GOD has set before us life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, be wise and good to yourself, choose His life, so that you and your children and grandchildren may live, and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For HE IS YOUR LIFE, and He can even prolong your life in the land.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20