I take this to mean that God's plan is more important to Him than our lives, and our eternal souls are more important than our physical life.
absolutely. What would it profit a man to Gain the whole world and loose his very soul?
God has an eternity of time and a sea of humanity to work with, so why put much time and effort into one little life when someone else might come along who can serve His plan better.
Because it is not about better, or the limits or limitations we place on ourselves. It's about your willingness to be used for God's purposes. For example do you think my responses or "wisdom" has anything to do with me or my learned abilities. I barely graduated High school and when I did, I didn't learn to read and comprehend what i read till I found comic books. I didn't grow up in the church, nor did I study with anything more than a true desire to know God.
What I am, and how i am able to serve has nothing to do with what I bring to the table. If I am of any use to God it is because I ask Him to work through me. Now that doesn't mean all that I say or write is inspired (ask my wife) I'd say 100% of the foolish advice i give belongs to me, but the rest comes from the Holy Spirit that dwells within me. and again this has nothing to do with me being "better" than anyone else.. Just willing.
Perhaps God's love is not at all like I thought. Perhaps His plan is much smaller than I thought - a matter of herding all His unbelievers into the right path to get them saved and herd them into Heaven.
God's plan from the beginning is to give us this life so that we may prove to ourselves in whom we love more.. God, or ourselves, and/or the religions and doctrines we surround ourselves with. God could have created the righteous in Heaven, and the Unrighteous to exist in Hell, but because God is a righteous God we have been given this brief existence to show ourselves where our true love lies.. So we get to choose in this life, how we wish to spend eternity..
That is all this life is.. Just a time to choose if we wish to be with God or not for the rest of eternity. That fact that you get a choice should speak volumes above and beyond your perceived role as a worker bee.. Look at the legions upon legions of angels who did not get a choice, and those who risked and earned literal Hell to try and force their choice upon God.
The Gift that we share is unlike that of any other part of creation, on top of which look at what it actually cost God to give us this Gift.
Love, True Love could be the only thing that could fuel such a sacrifice.
That really disappoints me. And scares me. My earthly life surrounds me and fills all five of my sense. He put me here...gave me an earthly life. Surely that means something to Him, even if just because its important to me. If He is a Father, then wouldn't my worries, failures and victories be important to Him?
To what end though? As an Earthly Father or Mother we may have a child who Loves candy. And what if Candy is all they want to eat? Just Because candy fulfills an immediate desire, that happens to quench a sweet tooth's hunger would you allow them to eat candy till their heart's content everyday?? What if they stop eating real food in favor of candy?
The Real food pertains to Spiritual maturity leading to eternal life.. Our worldly Goals and dreams, Victories and Failures are nothing more than spiritual candy.. Candy makes life sweeter, but is not what life is about. What would it say about our Father if He fed us all the candy we wanted, and never made us eat real food??
God is concerned enough about us and is involved enough to make sure we get spiritual candy from time to time, but not instead of of real spiritual food.. Again How does it profit a man to Gain the world, and loose his very soul?
Maybe it's ego, but I want to matter to Him.
I don't think that it is ego, we are to go before the Lord as a child, and like a child we want to matter to our Fathers. Know that you Matter to your Heavenly Father.
1Co 13:
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
The Theology that you have carried most of your life is that of one young in the faith. what you have written is true, but God being an infinite Being goes much much deeper than what can be condensed and easily comprehended for those young in the faith to understand... Just because your experiencing a different aspect of God's love or perhaps you're viewing it from a different angle doesn't mean He loves you any less, or that what you know to be true (backed by scripture) is now wrong. It is evident that you are wanting to grow spiritually, with growth will come confusion and misunderstanding, also look for correction and revelation in the areas of our faith that were not scripturally supported.. Know that what ever you may feel that you have lost, you will gain back 10 fold.. If you remain faithful in your quest to seek our God.
