All for Good

“For your own good,” I hear them say--
those who inflict some discipline
designed to make me shy away
from what, to them, is a grievous sin.

I smart and sting, and rue the rod
that wrangles my unbridled flesh,
for in my heart an impish god
usurps the throne...invades the creche.

He tells me I deserve so much:
more than strict Providence allots,
goods that I’m not allowed to touch,
daydreams of myriad have-nots.

He praises me with siren hymns
and deftly sweeps my faults aside
while, in my soul, a candle dims
from lack of air sucked up by pride.

Still, there is yet a pesky thorn
that keeps my candle-conscience lit,
a stubborn sin that makes me mourn
and even cry to Heav’n a bit...

Again, my image makes me cringe
should in the mirror it appear--
my secret folly, just a tinge
of which could freeze my heart with fear.

If any knew, if it became
a cause for public scrutiny...
can someone truly “die of shame”?
then that dread someone would be me.

But, faith clings to a living Hope,
an active Agency above
who rescues from sin’s fearful slope
and answers shame with gracious love.

Hope called me once, it calls me now,
It ever calls to trust His word:
sweet promises from One whose vow
even the dead to life have stirred!

“I work out all things for the good
of all the loved ones in My care.
Even the bad deeds no one would
imagine, My great plan can bear!

“I’ll use that secret, stubborn sin
to humble you, to cure your pride...
to plant compassion deep within,
so you can spread it far and wide.

“Yes, I am angry when you sin,
but it’s a Father’s anger now...
By grace my Son has brought you in,
and royal sonship, I endow.

“So come for cleansing kind and free!
Delight in My laws as you should!
For you are now at peace with Me...
and I work ALL THINGS for your good.”

MNA
8-2-2016

God's Love: Not for Everyone?

Like all of His attributes, God’s love is perfect. It is infinite, holy, passionate and pure. A love that perseveres and pursues its object in spite of all difficulties, dangers and denials.

God’s love makes His great heart ache when it is rejected. He compares Himself to a wronged husband when His beloved cheats on Him and turns to other lovers. His is a jealous love.

“Love” is one of those terms that has become so over-used that we’ve cheapened it, applied it as a catch-all solution for all the world’s ills. “All you need is love,” crooned the Beatles. John 3:16 appears on placards at sporting events, inviting viewers to discover how much “God so loved the world.”

“Free Love” was heartily recommended by the sexual revolution, hoping to permanently dislodge the enjoyment of sex from the bonds of marriage. Since then, “love” has become the all-purpose virtue excusing all kinds of infidelity and perversion. Giving and receiving physical pleasure, whatever the form or the fancy, has become synonymous with “love.”

Clearly, the love of our holy God diverges from our human concepts of love. “My ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts,” He tells the prophet. This is nowhere more true than in the way He, and we, define love.

One of the most often neglected attributes of God is His ultimate simplicity. Rather than referring to His mental powers or the ease with which He’s understood, God’s “simplicity” refers to the fact that He is without parts or systems that function independently of one another. Wherever God is, wherever He’s working, it is ALL of Him who is there, ALL His attributes functioning.

Because of this facet of God’s nature, we must never forget that none of His attributes--LOVE, for example--can be appealed to or conceived of as operating APART from all His other attributes. Therefore, God’s love cannot be imagined as a love that overlooks sin and guilt. Likewise, His justice and wrath cannot be seen as disconnected from His love.

Jesus, for example, saw the faith and love of the sinful woman who washed his feet. He forgave her many sins, but also told her, “Go and sin no more.” Both His grace and his commitment to holiness were fully functional.

Nowhere is God’s love more evident than at the cross of His Son.

In the passion and death of Jesus Christ, God Himself is lovingly supplying a sin-bearing substitute for the people of the world. Made available to “whosoever believeth in Him” (John 3:16). This ultimate expression of His love can be embraced and eternally enjoyed by anyone: the worst of sinners, the youngest of children, the meanest laborer, the most skeptical scholar.

But most people will ultimately REJECT this ultimate love.

Most people will be unmoved by Christ’s sacrifice. Perhaps they’ll admire Him as a martyr, praise Him as a noble teacher, be impressed by Him as a social revolutionary. But lovingly embrace Him as Savior, Lord, King? No, most will refuse to go that far.

God’s kind of love:
~ love that judges and convicts sinners
~ love that warns people of an eternal hell
~ love that can only save by the death of Another
~ love that insists on my willingness to forsake my sins
~ love that provides heaven only for those made clean from sin
~ love that unites beloved sinners with the resurrected, risen, reigning Christ

That kind of love, sadly, is not for everyone. But it is how God loves.

Sinner, friend, this offer of TRUE LOVE: convicting, warning, longing, suffering, substitutionary, saving, sanctifying, divine, ETERNAL love, is offered freely to you. God is offering you, not just a small portion, but ALL of Himself! Wrapped up in the person of Jesus.

His love is offered to you without payment. Jesus paid it all. Trust Him. Fall into His arms.

Don't decide God's love is NOT for you!

(677 words)