JOHN 5:14
Uuugghhhhh... this is one of those passages in the Bible that might not sit well with a lot of people. Is that a threat, Jesus? Are you saying that bad things will happen if you don't do what you ask? What happened to the God of endless mercy?! Cris, you said God wasn't a revengeful guy, that He wasn't out to get us!!!
Yeah, yeah, I know what I said. And I still stand 100% behind that statement. Look, our God is as much a God of mercy as He is a God of perfect justice. And the thing is, sometimes the things that happen to us are just consequences of our messing up really badly, you know? Not always, but sometimes... yes. Like when a drunk driver gets into an accident. Now, you are probably saying "well, but what about the person who was in the other car and had not been drinking? Why should God allow that to happen to them?!?!?" This is true, they don't deserve it. But you and I have to realize that sin has consequences and that those consequences don't always affect just us. They hurt other people too. And no, it's not fair to those people, but that's the nature of sin. It can happen to anyone, any time. And it's devastating and awful and I'm truly sorry, from the bottom of my heart, if you or one of your loved ones has been a victim of someone else's sin. May God grant you healing and peace!
Now, back to this whole threatening business. Remember, God is always trying to reach out to us, to encounter us, to show us how He loves us. But sometimes we are so blinded by our selfishness, our arrogance, and our pride that we fail to see Him or hear Him. God is beckoning you gently with His right hand and you don't listen, so what does He do? He uses his left hook to knock you out. He allows things to happen--yes, bad things--because He knows that's the only way you'll turn to Him, at least to yell at Him. Trust me, this is what happened to me. Only through a sport's injury, the loss of all my friends, and financial problems was He able to get me to turn to Him, initially to only say 'WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!?!?!?!' Before that, I just kept trying to rely on myself. So, to some of us stubborn people, God may have to be a little rougher. The solution to this is to simply surrender your life to Him, then He doesn't have to do that kind of thing, you know? I'm not saying that means nothing bad would ever happen to you--tough situations are part of life (and so is death). But when we don't give our lives to God, then we sink further and further into sin and those bad situations are basically impossible to face because we don't have the hope of having an amazing, all-powerful, all-loving God there to help us through!
So Jesus is not threatening... He's simply letting us know gently that if we decide to remain in sin our lives will only get worse. May the Lord break our chains and may we, by holding onto Him, be truly free!!!
If you are experiencing a rough time in your life or a difficult situation, don't forget that, above all, God loves you tremendously. Ask Him to get your through this and to let you see His hand in your life. May this difficulty produce good fruit in your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment