In every case, God considered these people righteous. Since that doesn’t really mean much to us in 2007, let’s say He counted them as His own. I had these men in mind when the short video clip I posted a few weeks ago by Brennan Manning was also recalled. In it Brennan says, “I am now utterly convinced that on Judgment Day the Lord Jesus is going to ask each of us one question and only one question: Did you believe that I loved you?”.
I then thought of Jesus' words, that whoever believes in Him will be saved. What does that mean? Who is He that to believe in Him is salvation? Well, the obvious answer is that He is the absolute and final word of God’s love for us. It’s undeniable.
I remember quitting my job with the intention of making the pursuit of God my full-time job. It was the best thing I ever did, it was the start of a beautiful thing. I remember the hours and hours of studying and pondering, and reading, and prayer, begging for God to love me so that all my problems would be solved. I always told Him that if I knew that I knew that I knew He loved me, then I would be absolutely ok, that nothing would ever be wrong again. Little did I know that He already did love me. My mind had been conditioned to believe that God would only love a complete me, a perfected me. But the truth I was missing was that He loves me now, as I am, no less than when I’m “better”. Yet I was told that, and I head-knew it, but it didn’t make any difference until it was real knowledge, until I believed it.
I remember learning about Adam, how God told Adam not to eat from the tree because it was not good for him, not just because. If Adam had only maintained the belief that God told him not to because He didn’t want Adam to die, because He loved Adam, then Adam wouldn’t have done it. Our disobedience is rooted in our insecurity about His love for us. Everything that we aren’t supposed to do is a protection for us. The choice is because He wants to be loved in return. The serpent challenged God’s motives to Adam, virtually saying that God didn’t want them to eat from the tree because He’s afraid He'd have equals.
And now today, our belief in His love for us is assaulted daily, not only in the world, but in the church as well. Why do you think Jesus gave the Pharisees the worst treatment out of any group – in fact, they were the only group He challenged. These were the ones who tied up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, who “strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel”, who were “like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean”, those who “appear to people as righteous but on the inside [you] are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”, those He called “sons of hell” (Mt 23). These were the only people He challenged, and His words to them were harsh to say the least.
On the one hand, we have those things that God has said we shouldn’t do, and that is because He loves us and doesn’t want us to have to deal with the consequences of them. On the other hand, His love isn’t so short as our disobedience. He meets us on the other side with forgiveness and help. The great hall of famers (ie. Noah, Moses, etc.) were sinners – big ones! But they understood their God loved them. They believed His promises to them because they trusted that He loved them, not because they simply took Him at His word.
I’m babbling, not making much sense. I’m drowning in love today I guess. Finally getting the realization that He loves me right now in all His fullness and completeness (nothing withheld), has been the cause of the greatest transformation of my life. Everything changed. I got happy and free. My God is just reminding me of that today.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
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