The Good Of The Father (Loves Choice)

 

He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love 

First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament 

How is it that you see God?  Do you see Him through His one true nature, or do you see Him through someone else's narrative of how He is?  Over time, I have learned to see the Father as He truly is, in love {First Epistle of John 4:8}.  For it is through love that the Father makes each and every decision.  It is through love that He spoke the universe into being {Genesis 1:1}.  It is through love that He is pleased with His creation {Genesis 1:18}.  It is through His love that, despite our sins, He dispatched His Son to die on the cross in our place {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  All which God does, He does out of His love for us.  Of course, there are times where we look upon our situations and wonder how in the world that God could be exercising His love in our lives.  I wondered that question after my mother passed.  For some time, my prayers had been that God would heal her and ease her pain.  Well, the Father did ease her pain, just not in the way that I expected Him to work.  The traditional church narrative is that God bases His decisions on a scale of good and evil.  If we're good in our Christian life, God will have favor upon us.  However, if we feel that our sin has become a barrier to the Lord, then He will deal with us appropriately.  The good is rewarded while the wicked is punished.  Seems pretty straight forward, right?  Except for one thing, God has already dealt with us.  That's right, the Father has already judged us, which is the reason that Jesus became sin in our place on that cross {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  Through the love of the Father, we have been justified through the love of Christ Jesus.  God no longer looks upon us as guilty, but as His loved children {First Epistle of John 3:1}.  In fact, if you were to come to the Father with the intent of confessing your sin, His response would very well be "What sin, My child?"  Indeed, this is now how the Father looks upon His children.  Through His love.  

And we know and believe the love which God has in us.  God is love, and he who is remaining in love is remaining in God, and God is remaining in him 

First Epistle of John 4: 16, Concordant New Testament 

So, what if you have never seen God in the way He truly is?  What if through your experiences of teachings you have a different view of the Father?  I've been in that crowd before.  My view of the Lord was based upon the good versus evil narrative.  While it is true that the Father indeed has the same anger as we experience, it is through His love that God CHOOSES to relate of His creation through love.  That's right, God chooses to be the love which He is.  That can be a comforting thought the next time we feel as if the Lord is upset or angry with us.  For the Father never does anything without love.  A good friend made the comment to me the other day.  What would have happened to the world had God decided not to manage His desires through love?  Well, I'm not sure that there would be anyone left alive on earth.  Yet, through His love, the Father has dealt with His creation not only justly but with love as well.  As I mentioned, it is only through the love of the Father that we are alive in Him {Johns Account 14:20}.  While we were yet sinners, the Father chose to see us through His love {Paul to the Romans 5:8}.  This is the love of the Father.  This is His one true nature.  

~Scott~