Unable yet still accountable

Christ said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we have and are... and our neighbors as ourselves Matthew 22:36-40.

However, how can we be accountable for not being loving when we don't have the ability to be loving on our own i.e. without God? Joh 15:4-5,12

We may not have the ability within ourselves, apart from God but...

1. We are still in God's image with the capacity to receive love.

2. We are offered free access to God (in, through, and because of Christ) to the source of infinite, eternal love - God himself. 

Through this access to Him, we can be empowered to do what we are called to do. 

When we have access to the source of love in and through Christ and receive that love, we are empowered to love and to be loving as we were designed and have the capacity to be. This doesn't mean we will do so perfectly or consistently, but this is no longer required since Christ assigned his perfect record of obedience to us. We are now under grace, not God's law. We are received by God as perfectly right (righteous) before Him. 

But to operate at our greatest potential is to operate according to God's design/will i.e. to follow God's direction to love Him with all we are and have. 

Now it is our choice to accept or refuse God's perfect, infinite, and unrelenting love. Though we are not forced to accept God's love, the lack of fruit (our not being loving) due to our refusal to accept God's love, is our responsibility i.e. If we refuse to receive the love God freely offers and are thereby unable to love others as a result, is a choice we have made and will be held accountable for. We may not be able to love sacrificially on our own, but we are freely offered the resources needed to love as we are called to when empowered by the Source of infinite love. Access to this love is offered to whoever will receive it. 

Our not being able to give to others what they need is not because it's unavailable to us, but simply because we refuse to receive it ourselves, so we might have it to give to others.

This would be like you coming across someone starving and not having any food to give them. But you have been told there is someone who freely offers all the food both of you will ever need, yet you refuse to accept it or tell others because you distrust the one who offers the food or you are unwilling to explore the validity of the offer.

If you refuse to receive what is freely available, you are also unable to give to others what they need (you can't give what you don't have), when you could have done so if you had only believed and accepted the offer.

This is a choice you and I are fully responsible for. Everything necessary for us to have full access - the hard part - has already been done for us and fully taken care of. It is now up to us to receive it.

For a discussion on how everything depends on God and us click here

For a further discussion on the necessity of choice click here

For a further discussion on being free yet also bound click here

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#Unable #Accountable #Faith #Love #ThoughtsAboutGod #ThotsAboutGod