Saturday, March 22, 2014

Is God Just?

God is Who He Is. He is the Creator of the Universe. The reason we can't (or won't) wrap our head around that reality is because there is something in us that does not want to believe that someone exists who is far superior. Who is capable of ruling over us. Who has the right and the power to do so at will.

"He curses whom He will curse and He blesses whom He will bless."

When God created man, He did so to have someone to share with, to share all that He is. His love, His power, His wisdom. His very nature revolves around and is reflected in His desire to benefit man and His creation. He loves us. He wants us to share in that nature. To become like Him. God can choose... He gave us the ability to choose as well.

And man early on made a choice. A fatal choice. Man was tempted by, and gave into a lie that challenged God's command and authority. That lie was originated by a fallen, rebellious , self centered, self serving, self worshiping evil being. Man chose to believe that lie and because of that choice became separated from God and His nature, and partook of that fallen being's very nature. Man's choice resulted in a transition from living under God's blessing to living under God's curse. A curse that was never intended for Man.

There is something in the heart of man as a result of that Fall. Man's love for God's love turned into a fear of His superiority.  A deeper fear of anyone else's superiority or even potential superiority began to develop in man. That deeper, yet more subtle fear has affected the world we live in and our personal lives in a multitude of ways. The entire world system is built on it. That fear drives our need to be superior. It drives our internal need to "compete." To survive at the expense of another. It is the anti-type of God's nature and plan for man and we are all guilty of participating in it whether we want to believe that or not. That is the price of the Fall of man and it ends up in our death. (and in the world system - corruption and eventual destruction)

That's a hard pill to swallow. If we can, for a minute, take a hard, honest look at the world we live in and our own lives. Our national identity, our "church" or religious identity, our racial or ethnic perceptions, our personal relationships, work relationships, even our marital relationships, even our own opinions of ourselves, etc are affected if not ruled by that rebellion and resultant fear and the dominance of the world system that has been built around it.

So, "What's the answer to all this?" you are asking? There is an answer but it's not the one we want to hear. The answer is that God, the Creator of the Universe (and everything and everyone in it) has the answer. It's not "WHAT is the answer?" It's "WHO is the answer?" The answer is to return to the ONE who created it all in the first place....

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life..." John 3:16