If God only loves those who are elected--but I love even the unelected--does that mean I am better than God?
No, God knowing the elect in "eternity" before the foundation of the world does not mean God doesn’t want all men to come to repentance and be saved in "time". The Bible tells us:
” 2Peter 3:9 said:
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
It would be the height of folly to even consider it true that the creature can love mankind more than the Creator who made him does. There is much spiritual blindness in this world and most do not see God for who He truly is, nor understand His love.
"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.]
I wasn't truly a Christian then. I came to the service that night because I was feeling sorry for myself for being away from my family for so long and our time had just been extended. Yes, I knew all about God and Jesus but truly I did not know the depth of His love yet. That day that was all going to change as I caught a true glimpse of the love and heart of God.
The Chaplain showed us a movie from Billy Graham that was pretty inspirational and then he addressed our upcoming time away from our families due to our cruise extension .
"I know another man whose family is missing him too, a young Marine by the name of James Howe. You see James just received the Medal of Honor for loving his brothers. He did not receive that medal in person however. You see his family received that medal by President Nixon posthumously because James covered a hand grenade with his body in order to save the lives of his brother marines.
"No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brothers" just got my attention and registered in that hardened heart of mine. I felt ashamed of feeling sorry for myself. I had considered it a sacrifice just being away from home too long. Suddenly that seemed so puny in comparison.
Our Chaplain continued, "What if you were one of the men James saved that day? Would you walk away forever grateful and honor his memory? Would you go to his Mom and Dad with tears in your eyes remembering his sacrifice for you or would you just get on with your life never really considering what was done for you? What would his father think of you if you did not honor the sacrifice of his son? Rest assured if that were my son I would discover every detail and name of those he saved by my son sacrificing his life for theirs. We understand or at least we should understand that if we are honorable men. But do we truly understand the meaning of sacrifice?
Jesus, not only gave His life to save yours but covered all your sins, and the sins of us all, so that you may have life. When the Father looked down upon that cross it was the sin of the world that covered Him. He bore all that for you. He covered it all with His body. Jesus even cried out to His Father, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Paul's second letter to Corinth 5:21 said:
For He (the Father) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The Chaplain was on a roll as far as I could tell. "You might be thinking by now that yes, this is all indeed true and I believe it but I am not quite ready to make that decision to repent of my sins and turn to Him so that He would wash you clean as a true believer who trusts in Him. You may be saying, “that decision may cost me personally”. Perhaps some might reject me or mock me for my faith. It might hinder my popularity if I begin to follow Jesus and become His disciple."
I wondered how he knew this was exactly what I was thinking? I believed everything was true - I seemed to know that in my heart but I did not feel ready it was like something was pulling me back from making a decision to follow Christ. Then he said,
"Yes, all that is true. You may indeed suffer loss but remember the cost of Christ's sacrifice, just like James friends will always remember what he did for them. Today if you hear His voice it is the day of salvation that God has provided to you. Do not put off the Holy Spirit's call. God is at the doorway of your heart. You have but to knock and the door will be opened too you. Yes, you may have to surrender many of the things this world esteems but your gain will be the inexpressible riches that are only found in heart of Christ. He will provide His life for you and reside in your heart and will not forsake you even if everyone else does. Your name will be written in the book of life with the many brothers and sisters that have gone before you. No one has the ability to pluck you from His hand.
I had ignored His call many times before but I did not ignore God's call that day. I felt like I was stepping into the unknown and pretty much lost all my friends. My family even though I'd lost my mind but I can point back to my first step of faith and obedience to the Gospel's transforming power as the defining moment of my life. To know Jesus is to love Him. As I grew in Him I began to see Him more clearly and love Him more deeply. I think that is part of the sanctification process because the more we love Him the more we are willing to step out on faith and sacrifice. We are promised that one day we will see Him not as a cloudy figure, like the blind man in the miracle in the first touch of his eyes, but truly as He is and when that occurs we shall truly become just like Him.
(*) Taken from my journal notes - the day I became a follower of Christ.
[quote="1 John 3:2, Isaiah 55:7 Ezekiel18:3 and 33:11”]
1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Eze 18:31 “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
Eze 33:11 “Say to them: ‘
As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
[/quote]
CONCLUSION: God greatly loves us more than we can knoe and does not desire that we perish but repent and come to know Christ to the full.
In the time we have been given God affords us opportunity and tells us to afford others the opportunity to come to the knowledge of Christ. in fact Jesus told us to go into all the world with the message of the Gospel and make Christ-like disciples by teaching them to obey all He commands. He clearly tells us this is to be for all ethnicities. Jesus also said He would be there with us until the end of the age, when the message has been completely delivered to all ethnicities. In fact He said the end would not come until this directive has been accomplished. God then desires our repentance and turning back to Him by putting our faith in His Son and is patient and loving past anything we can conceive of. He has blessed us in order that we might become a blessing to all peoples and be partakers in His harvest. We have been freely given that we might freely give it all away so that many may come to the knowledge of Christ.
Lastly, we also should not confuse eternity, the unmutable dwelling place of God, with time, which is mutable and part of creation itself. Betsie Ten Boom, after her sister Corrie could not understand such suffering during her time in the concentration camp, seemed to understand the Bible in such a way as to know the eternal and the suffering of this world, were inextricably linked somehow. But neither she or any of us really understands just how it is so. The physicists ready admit time itself began with creation. Time is a physical concept only. Hence this infers that there was no time before creation only eternity, which is incomprehensible to the finite mind - except we apprehend a sense of it by faith.
So it also follows time is temporal and not within the realm of the eternal. It took physicists up-teen centuries to catch up with Irenaeus and Augustine on that concept. Understanding the eternal is difficult just like the concepts of infinity are difficult for we also know eternity was, is and always will be, but it cannot be contextualized in the sense as we understand finite time. Hence I don’t agree there is such a thing as eternity past and eternity future as some theologians state. I believe eternity always was, always is, and forever will be. Somehow the concept of election is also there but I cannot see any practical value for it in this world of time, other than believing it is inextricably linked and I believe it is true. I am careful, however, not to formulate too many logical opinions of the relationship between time and the eternal other then I believe the Bible tells us that time is on course to eventually reflect eternity and this will be because the Father sent His Son from His eternal abode, as the Word of God, into the physical universe. Here upon the earth He made Himself subject to time and even death on a cross. But death could not hold Him for All creation was made for the Son. I even think of the Lord’s prayer in this way.
"Our Father who art in Heaven (eternal) Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy (eternal) Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth (in time) as it (already) is in heaven (eternity). By the grace of God time and creation is on a course to reflect the eternal. Then the purpose of time shall be complete and God’s Will will be done. But as for this day in time we are afforded the opportunity to be transformed by Christ and repeat the sounding joy, “Now is the day of salvation”.
A revealing progression of time found in 1st Corinthians 15
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those
who are Christ’s at His coming.
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy
that will be destroyed
is death.
27 For
“He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under
Him,”
it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
In Christ, Pat