Deserving

Hammster

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I disagree. Being made by God, there is something in us that is inherently good, and therefore, do deserve God's love. We are marred by sin and its effects, but that inherent image of God is not destroyed. It is still in us.
Did you deserve to have Christ die for you?
 
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Hammster

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GOD thought that I was.

Why would God think that? Maybe because of the worth He gave to me in creating me in His image giving me an eternal soul.
But do you think you were worthy of Him dying for you?
 
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Hammster

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No I would venture to say that only Christ is undeserving of any curse, due to our caving in to satan. But Christ extends the association to whom He wills.

Proverbs 26:1-3
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
so honour is not fitting for a fool.
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,
an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the back of fools.

Luke 12:6-7
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?
Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.
But even the hairs of your head are all counted.
Do not be afraid;
you are of more value than many sparrows.
That would make sense since we are image bearers. But does that alone make us so valuable that Christ should die for us?
 
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Do you deserve to have Christ die for you?

On the basis of being a sinner.... "no."; But this would be a... "yes," based on His love for mankind (we are made in His image), and that He values us more than many sparrows, and based on the fact that He desires us to be vessels of honor and not vessels of wrath. The reason Christ died for us was to sanctify us by the washing of the water of the Word so as to present to Himself a church that is holy and blameless (See: Ephesians 5:25-27). For Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). This would be the works of the devil within a believer's life. Think. Vessels of honor. Each man should know how to possess his vessel for sanctification (Which is fit for the Master's use).
 
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Hammster

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On the basis of being a sinner.... "no."; But this would be a... "yes," based on His love for mankind (we are made in His image), and that He values us more than many sparrows, and based on the fact that He desires us to be vessels of honor and not vessels of wrath. The reason Christ died for us was to sanctify us by the washing of the water of the Word so as to present to Himself a church that is holy and blameless (See: Ephesians 5:25-27).
So any value isn’t because of us, it’s because of Him.
 
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So any value isn’t because of us, it’s because of Him.

God is love. So God will love that which has worth. God is not going to reward the devil and redeem him because of his actions. The devil has no worth to God because he is pure evil. Sure, God can use the devil for his greater purpose and plan for good, but it is only temporary. The devil will be destroyed in the end. The same would be true for the wicked who reject Jesus and His good ways (Whereby they choose to side with the devil and not Jesus).
 
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~Zao~

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That would make sense since we are image bearers. But does that alone make us so valuable that Christ should die for us?
Christ’s death broke the curse so that the Father’s love could flow to us unobstructed. And to prove to satan (and us thru that) that God’s plan isn’t to hinder us, as the lies tell us. We (the church) are valuable to God to get that message across of His Love. Ephesians 3:10 but as individuals is that carried out (or not) so I’m starting to think it’s not about love, because God can’t change His nature. But He can change ours.
 
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for discussion


Is there anything in us or about us that make us deserving of the Father’s love?
There is a line in the movie about Saint Francis, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, that I love.
"In our preoccupation with original sin, we tend to forget original innocence."
 
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Hammster

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God is love. So God will love that which has worth. God is not going to reward the devil and redeem him because of his actions. The devil has no worth to God because he is pure evil. Sure, God can use the devil for his greater purpose and plan for good, but it is only temporary. The devil will be destroyed in the end. The same would be true for the wicked who reject Jesus and His good ways (Whereby they choose to side with the devil and not Jesus).
Ah. Those who love God deserve His love.
 
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Hammster

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That's a different question from the op. ;)
Not at all.

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

So, are you deserving of this love?
 
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Sam91

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Yes because God chose to love us and anything God decrees or decides is right. So once He chose to, we are. He created us the way he wanted.

Do I personally feel I deserve His love? No. He is so Holy and Good. I am nothing in comparison. I have far more from God than

I could ever deserve. We can't do anything to merit it and can only rest in Him.

Jeremiah 31 has a lovely section on God's love.

The Lord appeared to us in the past,saying:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
4 I will build you up again,
and you,

I find what He says about Ephraim poignant:

'Is not Ephraim my dear son,
the child in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I have great compassion for him,”
declares the Lord'
 
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Hammster

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Yes because God chose to love us and anything God decrees or decides is right. So once He chose to, we are. He created us the way he wanted.

Do I personally feel I deserve His love? No. He is so Holy and Good. I am nothing in comparison. I have far more from God than I could ever deserve. We can't do anything to merit it and can only rest in Him.

Jeremiah 29 has a lovely section on God's love.
God had to act first, though. Correct?
 
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Sam91

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You said once He chose to love us, we became worthy. Or did I misunderstand your point?
I wasn't sure what you meant :) I do not know the answer to that. I think He loved us when He created us, knowing what would happen.

I don't know if you do gardening but when you plant that seed you do all you can to make it grow. That little seed deserves your care because you planted it. I doubt your a soft as me but I feel that the little plants deserve my care, even if I intend to eat them. I also feel that they deserve eaten rather than rotting away. Now I'm human and fallible. The love I hold for anything can't compare to the love of the Holy, Everlasting God. My decisions are in error and I have no wisdom.

Now if God created us in His likeness, could my feelings towards that seed be a poor shadow compared to the love He feels to those He designed, created and knew in the womb? I don't have the answer but that occurs to me. Any deserving is God given because of Him and not 'our deserving' because of us.

I know what I deserve and it's not pretty :/
 
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God had to act first, though. Correct?
When we plan to raise a family, the child is the seed of that family. It has all the potential of becoming a wonderful soul.

Similarly, when we are born, God values us highly, we are many times more precious than a sparrow which is itself valued highly by God, because our noble nature can be expressed by choice, what we decide to be, through response to revelation from Him, whereas all other creatures have only the essence they are born with.
 
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