Tag: Unconditional

A Savior that Never Lets You Go

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       Once you give your heart to God and accept Jesus as your Savior, you belong to the One that will never let you go, never cast you out. Just as a good father will never cast out his child, your perfect Father unconditionally holds on to the hearts given to Him .

 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:37-40)

      We can know that our knowledge of God and His Son is because the Holy Spirit has drawn our hearts into unity with the Father. God calls His children to Him and through our perfect Savior we find salvation and eternal life. We were chosen by God to walk in His love.

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

       Many will say they know God but their life will bear no fruit. They will not give their hearts entirely to Him and know the peace and joy that can only come through the creator of the universe. God calls the hearts that He knows will belong to Him. The religious deeds and meaningless words do not fool a God who sees a man’s heart. He also sees the intentions of a misguided heart. Good deeds from a foul heart do not please God as much as a misguided deed from pure heart. An imperfect deed done in love pleases a God who sees through human frailty.

“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

“Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

       God cherishes His children; and Jesus, who came to earth to reconcile us to the Father through His perfect sacrifice, will never let you go, never leave you, and will love you without condition. Jesus will leave the 99 to find you when your heart wanders because He cherishes what belongs to Him. Give your heart and life to the perfect Father, who leaves it in the care of His perfect Son, who gave His life to make it pure and give it eternal life. Be held by the one who will never let you go.

12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:12-14)

How Would You Feel?

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             Imagine that you inherited a large sum of money and decided to buy an island for your friends and family. You built housing and provided anything they could ever need on the island. If a new need arose you met that need out of love for the people you chose to live there. They want for nothing because of your provision. Over time they forget about you and glorify themselves in the luxury you provide. They become arrogant and selfish, trying to store extra things for themselves to obtain status over the other people. None of the people recognize your name anymore. You feel sad and angry. Maybe you ask them to take one day per week and remember the source of their provision. That doesn’t get followed. You institute rules for them so that they have to regain an outward focus toward you. They fail at that as well. You finally have to travel to the island to explain what your reason for the island was, and that you want them to remember the love that built it and continues to provide for it. You want them to be thankful and love you in return. You become an example to them of how you desire for them to live. They reject you. They don’t like the idea of letting you change what they have established in your absence so they look for a way to kill you. Finally, you institute a message of love that encompasses all of the original rules and gives them hearts that resemble the heart that brought the island into existence.

                I ask you to put yourself in that situation and imagine how you would feel. Would you be angry with your people? How sad would their selfishness make you? How would the rejection when you traveled to help them make you feel? I’ll let you have your own moment with the feelings that stir within you.

This is the frustration of God. He has more power and presence than we can imagine with this human example. God is far too big for us to ever understand Him or to fully see His plan. I wanted you to feel in your heart what we would see from His throne. Then imagine that He looks at you with unconditional love and accepted death to reconcile you to Him. He’s building a new island for those that choose to give Him the recognition and thanks. I don’t ask you to fully understand the infinite God. I hope you don’t let yourself become complacent and resemble the people who forget where their provision comes from.

View of God as The Father

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What a shame it is to see people turn away from a God they don’t even know. They deny the existence of the God they’ve never sought. With eyes closed and ears plugged they run as quickly as possible into the shallow existence available on earth. There is an inherent self-reliance and pride that sin has placed on the heart of every person. God is found in submission to His authority. In order to submit to that authority you have to be faithful of His steadfast love. His infinite love guarantees that He insures a life for us that far surpasses our finite expectations. In order to make God clearer I ask you to do the following with me:

Imagine for a moment that you are a child. A child that hangs on every word of your Father. You are the apple of His eye and you can’t stand to be away from Him.  Now imagine that your father is a king. His wealth is limitless, especially in your child-like view of things. As His child you want for nothing, all that you ask is given to you in abundance. You have no worries. On top of that imagine your Father is perfect in is love for you. His comfort is always loving and warm, His correction of your wrongs is always in love, He is always available to you and seeks time with you, and nothing you can do can change His love for you. Sit thoughtfully and read the beginning of this paragraph again, slowly, and really fall into the presence of your perfect Father. In this wonderful environment, would you not trust your Father to always have what you needed? Wouldn’t it be easy to trust that your best interest was always His priority? Wouldn’t you look to Him for wise counsel so that you might be closer to Him and become more like Him?

Now know that what you have sat and imagined is real! You are a child, the child of the king of all kings. God makes clear that all who believe in Jesus are adopted as His children and will receive the inheritance of His eternal kingdom. That perfect love you imagined is limited by your sinful nature, His love is actually more than any human can imagine let alone provide. You have just imagined a reality that exists for all who want it. You have a Father that knows your needs over your wants, corrects you with perfect love, protects you, and will never take away His love. Jesus died so that God doesn’t see our ugliness, only our beauty as His image bearers.

The best way to find the true view of God is as His child, trusting in His steadfast love. Let go of any pride that exists in your heart, and submit to the love that will never fade. God wants more for you than this earth can offer. Be reconciled to Him in Jesus and inherit His Perfect Love and His Eternal Kingdom.