Will we choose to believe like this thief did?
“Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” Lk 23:42 NIV
Can we even grasp how loving God is?! Not only did He create us and this beautiful world we live in, but when we messed it up? He gave us The Way out so that we could eventually live in the Paradise this world was supposed to be. And now, if that wasn’t enough for you, God allows us the Free Will to decide if we will believe what His Love has already provided! He won’t force us to believe…although He will prompt us, urge us, pursue us and even woo us, but force? Nope. That is not Love. Love gives an offer, then waits for the one loved to either react or respond.
We’ve talked about those two serval times, but since we are reviewing this week anyway, let’s touch on it again here. When we react, we are leaning on our old, sinful MMI Prideful self. We often do not take the time to think about things through the eyes of God, but we just… blah! Whatever comes up from the inside of our cold and dead hearts, is what comes out of us…and it is usually nothing pretty. An example would be, if someone yells at us, we yell right back, regardless of who is right or wrong.
When we respond, however, we take a moment. We at least try to filter things through God. We might pray about he situation. We might actually think about what we are thinking about. And then, we respond to the situation with love motivating our words and deeds. In our example above, we might talk to God about what the other person is saying, and then calmly say, “You might have a point. I will go and pray about it.” This is like pouring water on fire…instead of the old fire on fire disaster. Either way we are free to choose our behavior. And we are free to choose whether we believe in God’s Love or not.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
21- Lk 23:42
<>< Peace, Diane
