The Good Of The Father (Loves Gift)

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

First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament 

Around the world, people will celebrate this Christmas day.  The tradition will be that we will gather to exchange gifts with each other, which has been the custom for hundreds of years.  If you were new to this society, you might think that this time of year is more about buying gifts than anything else.  Yet all of the gifts which we have ever been given could never equal the one gift which was given to us from the love of our heavenly Father.  This gift was presented to us thousands of years ago in the form of a newborn infant.  In the city of Bethlehem in the nation of Judea, God presented to us His only Son.  Of course, those who gathered to celebrate the birth of this child had no idea of the importance of this event.  How God, out of His never ending love for His children, had commissioned His Son to be the sacrifice for that which we have done wrong.  So it is that Christ Jesus, born in humility, gave of Himself for the sins of the Fathers creation {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  It is Jesus who has proclaimed that a greater love has no one, that he may be laying down his soul for his friends {Johns Account 15:13}.  What love has Jesus for us, that He would lay His own life aside for Gods children?  That He would bear that punishment surely meant for ourselves.  For this is the gift of love which the Father has given to us.  Not only for the believer, but for all mankind.  So it is that all of Gods creation may be saved through Christ Jesus {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  This birth of Jesus is not simply the greatest story ever told, but the greatest gift ever given.  

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 

I have found that many folks bristle whenever I mention the prospect of universal salvation.  The belief that God will ultimately provide for the salvation of all of His creation.  They point to the belief that all who do wrong must be punished and those who follow God will be rewarded.  I love the Chosen series, and there is a beautiful scene within it that illustrates how the Father and Jesus see good and evil.  As Jesus sits teaching the local children, one of them relates to His of a spat which he had with another boy.  Jesus asks the child, "Well what did you do?"  The boy replies that he pushed the other child as hard as he could.  Jesus smiles and proclaims, "And that is why you were punished."  Jesus then explains to the children of someone else who loves justice...as He smiles and points to the heavens.  Indeed, it is the Father who is the ultimate judge of all.  For man to squabble over who should be and not be saved is not our fight, but Gods.  The author J Preston Eby, in his Kingdom series, explains that our judgement has already occurred.  We have been found guilty {Paul to the Romans 3:23}.  However, through the love which He has for us, God dispatched His Son to pay the penalty for what we have done.  What love has no one, that He be laying down His soul for His friends?  So, that concept of universal salvation isn't as blasphemous as you might believe.  The gift of love which the Father has provided each of us declares us free of sin.  However, like someone ignoring a gift left under the Christmas tree, there may be some who refuse to accept the gift given out of the love of the Father.  This in no way means that they will be forgotten.  For it is the desire of the Father that all be saved.  

~Scott~