Hi and welcome back. It has been a minute I must say. But I am glad to be able to share another quiet time reflection with you. Today we shall be examining the love of God as his will for our lives.
There is an entire post on The Love of God, which you can explore. But we are also looking at it again.
The bible lets us know that God is love, 1 John 4:7-10, and that He loves us, 1 John 4:8-10. What does it mean for God to love us? Or to be loved? I believe that to do that, we need to look at what the bible has to say about love.
One of the most famous books on love in the bible is 1 Corinthians 13. Let’s look at the attributes of love from verses 4-8: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
Wow, this is a lot to unpack. First, it says love is patient, which means God is patient. Well, looking back on my life, I can definitely say that God is patient and has been patient with me. A true fact about me, I am still working on this attribute of God called patience. What does patience mean?
Definitions from the internet explain patience as: the ability to tolerate others’ mistakes, slowness, or annoying behavior without anger- “long-suffering”. Patience is also explained as perseverance in the face of difficulties and failures.
Is God patient? Based on these definitions, then yes, he is. In 2 Peter 3:8-9, the bible explains that God is not slow to act: 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Someone may say, “Patient, about what? What’s God got to be patient about? Well, for starters, we talked about God creating us for himself and wanting us to be reconnected to him (The Will of God: Is That All May Be Saved and Receive Salvation). But if you take a long hard look, it seems people are more interested in living their lives on their own terms rather than being reconnected back to God.
I can bet you that if one were to talk to someone about repenting and being reconnected to God through Jesus, a lot would say they do not believe in God or in Jesus. Others would say that we have been hearing about Jesus for hundreds of years, and he still has not come. If the bible were true, he ought to have come by now, particularly given the current state of degradation that the world is in.
So, let’s look at the first: people who do not believe in God. There are Atheists, Agnostics, Non-religious, and Humanists ( I am sure the list goes on). Why do they not believe in God?
Could be a lack of Empirical Evidence: Many people require measurable, testable, and verifiable evidence to believe a claim. They look at fields like physics, Evolutionary biology, and cosmology that explain how the universe and life came to be without the need for a Supernatural creator. People also ask: If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and completely loving, why is there so much tragic suffering, natural disasters, disease, and cruelty in the world? For many, the existence of extreme suffering disproves the existence of a loving God.
It could be Culture and Upbringing: Most people adopt the worldview of their parents or the society they live in. If someone grows up in a non-religious household or a highly secular society, believing in God is simply not part of their daily life or cultural norm. It could be contradictions Among Religions: To a skeptic, it appears more likely that humans invented these different religions to explain the unknown, cope with death, and establish social rules, rather than one specific group being right while billions of others are wrong. It could also be Bad Experiences with Religion: Some people reject God because they have been hurt by religious institutions, witnessed hypocrisy among believers, or seen wars, persecution, and discrimination carried out in the name of God.
Finally, it could also be due to Apatheism: Many people do not actively debate the existence of God; they just find the question irrelevant to their lives. They find deep meaning, morality, happiness, and purpose through family, art, careers, science, and nature without any spiritual element.
So we see that we have quite a lot of reasons why people either do not acknowledge God or believe in him. Now, the question is, should we? Why should we believe in God? What’s in it for someone to believe in God?
The reason is simple: whether we choose to believe in God or not, God made us. The bible says in Genesis 1 that God created the universe. So, for people who put science over the existence of God, does it not even occur to you that, despite science’s great achievement in explaining creation, science is still lagging behind creation? It often appears that science is a student of creation. People achieve great results in different scientific fields and then sometimes have to backtrack or just learn something entirely new about their understanding of things. This shows that the universe, and all its life forms, is not something that our finite brain is genuinely able to comprehend, hinting at the supernatural.
For some, the existence of extreme suffering can tend to make them think there is no God. But if we look at the bible in Genesis 1:1-22, particularly verse 22: 1 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. It says that all of creation was good. But then in Genesis 6, after the fall of man (Genesis 3), particularly verse 5: 5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
If you remember the previous post (The Will of God: Is That All May Be Saved and Receive Salvation), where we looked at the fall of man from fellowship with God, you will see that in Genesis 6, as man began to multiply on the earth with our fallen nature, sin became the order of the day. Therefore, it is man that perpetuates this sin which is evident in all the suffering and wickedness on the face of the earth and not God.
You will also agree with me that man is also responsible for all the other categories of disbelief. Be it Culture and Upbringing, contradictions Among Religions, hurt by religious institutions, hypocrisy among believers, wars, persecution, Apatheism, and discrimination carried out in the name of God. Man is the common denominator here. And the reason for this can be traced to sin, which is the result of the fall of man.
So, our current fallen nature is toxic to us and is killing us, which is what God meant and desired for us to avoid by telling the first man, Adam not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden in Genesis 2:17, as it leads to death. The death of our connection to God and connection to what is good. (Mark 10:18). You see, God made us beings with the ability to make choices John 3:16; Deuteronomy 30:19. He wants us to have free will so that we can enjoy our lives here on earth. The free will also extends to us choosing to believe in him or not.
Whether we choose to believe in him or not is up to us and does not change the existence of almighty God. But his desire is for you to choose him. Why? Because God created us for himself and he loves us, John 3:16. In other words, his essence is in us Romans 1. He wants you to know him, Hosea 6:3, so that you can live a fulfilled life here on earth, and when you die, you are not forever separated from him, Matthew 7:21-23. Because the bible also reminds us that the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23.
And for those of us that keep on saying that we have been hearing about Jesus for hundreds of years, and he still has not come. This is where the patience of God comes in. Remember 2 Peter 3:8-9, yes that verse which explains the patience of God. God is patiently waiting for you to respond to him. He is patient when we live anyway which way we want. But deep down there is always something missing that all our achievements and experiences in life cannot fulfill. A hunger for more, we are searching for something that we do not know. It does not matter how successful or not successful we are. There is a desire for more.
This brings us back to the truth which is that we are made for more. We are made for more than we can see, feel, touch, taste and all. Even our deepest connections is unable to make up for this longing, this emptiness.
So, today, if you feel a tug on your heart (see the post on the heart), do not turn away, do not harden your heart, Hebrews 3:7; it’s God drawing you to him. The bible says no one can come to God except he draws you, John 6:44. In His infinite patience, God draws us to him. The bad news is that he will not be able to be patient with us forever because of our mortality. If you keep neglecting him, and die the way you are, then you are lost forever, Hebrews 12:25; Hebrews 2:3. You will be completely separated from him, which leaves only judgment for you John 3:18.
The good news is that if you choose to be drawn into him, all you have to do is simply believe in him and be saved. How? You may ask, well, have you heard of Jesus? Jesus is the fruit of God’s love for us John 3:16. God in man form. Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life. Only in him is there salvation, Acts 4:112.
If you believe that God is calling you today, you can just say this prayer: “Dear God, I am a sinner, and I admit that I do things my way. Please forgive me, I believe in you, accept me in Jesus name. Romans 10:9-10
If you have said this prayer and believe in your heart, then your life will never be the same again. The next thing you need to do urgently is to get into a Bible-based church because you will need discipleship in your new life. You can also get in touch with me, as I would love to hear from you.
I love you, but God loves you more and desires that you take advantage of his patience.