Captivated by love or the Spirit

When we are captivated by

God's ¹love we are also filled with or driven by the ²Spirit. This means what we say and do comes from and by the Spirit i.e. we are moved by love. 

The only question is if and when we are truly captivated. Is this even possible on this side of eternity? It is certainly something we should seek. 

To be moved by love is functionally the same thing as being moved by or filled with the Spirit, for God is Spirit and also love. Spirit and love are different aspects of the same being, but are also the same thing. 

To act from a heart filled with God and His love - i.e. in and by the Spirit - is to operate out of fullness, not out of need and emptiness. God's infinite love frees us to focus outwardly instead of inwardly, on others and not ourselves. This is expressive versus deficit motivation. When we are captivated by God's love, we change from the inside out and go from being takers (or "getters") to givers.

When we are moved by love - i.e., the Spirit - we do not have to give much thought to our actions toward others or our response to challenging circumstances. Generally, ³our response will be right because it is coming from the right place - i.e., a place of fullness of love, not a need for love. It will come from who we are as an infinitely cherished child of God bearing His image.

Right intent doesn't always guarantee right actions, but more often than not, results in them.

If you wish to operate in the Spirit, focus on and soak in God's love, not right conduct. Right living is the fruit of being loved, i.e., of operating in and by the Spirit.

How do we focus on his love? 

By faith.

But faith in what? 

Faith in the evidence of God's love, demonstrated perfectly through sending his Son to restore us to Himself. 

Christ stepped into our world of pain, suffering, and death to take upon himself our pain and death (caused by our rebellious unbelief). Why? So he might restore us to the Father and eventually free us from all pain, suffering, and death one day. He did this by removing the barrier between Him and us so He could love us freely and fully ⁴again (allowing Him to freely be who He already is as someone moved completely and perfectly by love without any obstruction or reservation getting in the way and blocking His love). 

Now, because of Christ, nothing can separate us from God's love.

For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, let them see and hear... and believe!
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¹To say it more precisely, we are captivated by the God of love, not by the blessings of God. God himself is our focus, not the benefits He provides.

Because our faith is weak and our hearts are so quickly led astray, we can easily lose sight of the Source of all things and become obsessed with the things themself (the "prosperity gospel" is the classic example and manifestation of this natural inclination). This is a constant battle we must be aware of and on guard for. We are reminded of this by Israel's regular wandering back and forth from the Lord (depending on the leadership of their various kings and whether they had a heart for God or not) and God blessing or not blessing them according to their arrogance or humility; their dependence on God or on creature comforts. When they got obsessed with the blessings of life, the blessings dried up and when they cried out to God in sincere humility, God opened His hand of blessings to them again. God loves to bless us, but if the blessings pull us away from Him, He knows that isn't best for us, He is.

²The Spirit (literally "breath" in the original languages) of God is the outward manifestation of the passionate love of God between the Father and the Son as they behold the glory (beauty) of the other. This love is so all-powerful it is the foundation of the very existence of God Himself and all that flows from Him. God is love, and He is Spirit. And He is Spirit because He is love. 

For more on this click here.

When we are passionate about another, our excitement, heart rate, and rate of breathing go up as we behold the one we love. That very same kind of love is now directed and focused on us if we are in Christ.

What is it about us that God beholds, which creates this same passionate love for us? We are like God, i.e., in his image. God is most passionate about himself as a being of relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Therefore, He's also passionate about us because we are like him, designed for a relationship with Him first. And out of that, relationships with other image bearers. 

We are also his children; the very sons and daughters of God (Christ is the firstborn of all God's children and our "big brother").

³How do we know when we are not captivated by love? When we do not respond in love to challenges or opportunities to love others. 

⁴In Christ God no longer deals with (relates to) us based on (according to) our rebellious unbelief but based only on (according to) his infinite love perfectly secured for us by Christ.

Christ's central message?

Once Christ officially began his ministry, what was His central message? 

"From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand' " - Matt 4:17 - i.e. the kingdom is right at your doorstep. So get ready for it for its King is about to be ¹set up and established.

What time is "that time" being referred to above? The time right after his 40 days of testing in the wilderness. A ⁹testing that the Spirit ²led Him into right after the public announcement of his ministry at his baptism.

During his time in the wilderness, Jesus passed three tests by the deceiver (corresponding to the 3 failures of Adam and Eve, our original "parents"). This set the stage to announce His soon-coming kingdom and ⁸earned Him the right to be its King.

What is the kingdom of God (or heaven)? It is the rule and reign of ³love by Jesus - the ⁴King of love - over His followers i.e. His willing subjects.

Why does Jesus use the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven interchangeably? Because they are one and the same. 

How?

It is a heavenly (blissful) kingdom because it is a kingdom that issues forth from love and is "governed" by and filled with ³love - for God is love. It is the ⁵arrival of heaven (i.e. Love/God) on earth which was inaugurated at the birth and incarnation of the Son of God, secured and sealed by his death and burial, and initiated by His resurrection (Death no longer has the last word, life does; life back from death) and will be fully implemented when Christ returns to earth to reign forever with those who have received His offer of life and love through the forgiveness earned for them by His life, death, and resurrection. 

Wherever God and His rule of love are present is a ⁶taste of heaven on earth (but only a taste for now...the full feast is later) i.e. a taste of joy and delight in the King's love which ultimately will lead to an uninterrupted, eternal, unobstructed, infinite feast of love and bliss i.e. heaven on earth.

How does this work? How is this different than the typical kind of kingly rule or kingdom?

Typically, a king reigns or rules by decree (law) under threat of punishment. If and when you violate a king's decree (law), you suffer the consequences. Those consequences can be anything from fines to imprisonment to execution. Fear of punishment is the primary motivation used to maintain compliance (law and order) in this typical kind of kingdom.

A rule (kingdom) of (or run by) love is completely different. Unlike a rule of law, which works by ⁷fear of punishment, rejection, and condemnation, a rule of love (or the law of love) creates within its subjects the desire to obey its king's directions (commands). His subjects willingly (delightfully) obey because they want to, not because they have to...they obey out of love for and trust in their King, not out of fear of punishment by their judge. Why? Because Christ bore the judgment for us for not properly honoring and loving Him as rightful King and not loving our neighbor - fellow image bearers of the King - as we were designed to.

Even though there are still consequences for not loving Him (and others) as deserved, under the rule of love they are not the consequences of rejection, condemnation, and judgment. They are consequences of correction as His beloved child. Correction designed to draw us closer to the King of love so we might experience His love more fully and freely display it more perfectly for His glory. Once Christ literally comes to earth to reign, we will be perfected like him, for we will see Him fully as He is in all His love. 

Under both a rule of law and a rule of love there are clear directions to follow on what is good and right conduct. The difference is the motivation that drives the behavior of its subjects. Under the rule of law, it is a fear of rejection, condemnation, punishment, and judgment. Under the rule of Christ, love and trust are the driving force behind true love-inspired obedience.

In light of all this, God calls us to enter His kingdom through the love of its humble king.

Matt 11:28 

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 take my yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

What rest? The rest from fear of rejection and condemnation and constantly having to seek life and love (i.e. affirmation from others) because we now have it fully and perfectly in God through Christ. All that is left is for us to accept his offer. Do you accept it?

It is appropriate and not insignificant that near the end of the bible we are extended the following invitation, 

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.' - 

Rev 22:17

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¹What would it take to establish this kingdom of love? The death and resurrection of Christ that will remove the barrier between God and man - i.e. he removed the legal consequences of our rebellious distrust of Him - so that his love could flow freely to his subjects and Christ's rule of love could be firmly and permanently established.

²Which makes the prayer Jesus taught His disciples all the more interesting.

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. - Matt 6:9‭-‬13 ESV

The Father's will being done - i.e. His rule and reign as King - on earth as it is in heaven - was most fully demonstrated in the very person of Christ during His incarnation and time on earth. That which is of heaven - i.e. God and His Son - was fully displayed and manifested on earth in and through Christ as a human... a creature i.e. the incarnation or fleshing out of God himself among us in Christ while here on earth leads to his complete and ultimate physical reign on earth when He returns (and also our reign in and through Him).

Since the resurrection of Christ and the coming of his Spirit (of love and life), we are now the "fleshing out" of God before a watching world until He returns.

³And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered with the Shama, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 

And when Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” - i.e. You understand that the essence of the Kingdom of God is love. Now live by it.

"And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions." - Mark 12:28‭-‬34

The greatest and second commandment is the essence of the kingdom of God. And what is the essence of these commands? Love. The love of God and others.

⁴Christ earned his right to reign over His subjects by humbling himself as a servant and dying on behalf of the subjects He rules over. 

Christ our King cast himself into battle to fight and overcome evil to save his subjects and died. He did this knowingly and willingly. 

And then He came back to life. And because He did, those of us who have submitted to Him as our King will also rise to life after our death and rule along side Him on earth when He returns. 

Death is the inevitable result of rejecting the Giver of life. But Life is the inevitable result for those who accept that His death was on their behalf i.e. it was done to restore them back to the Giver of life they had rejected.

⁵The arrival of the Kingdom of God begins in the individual hearts of men and women when we place our trust in the King of love. But will be completed when God sets up His literal physical kingdom on earth at His return. 

⁶It isn't the full meal however until we sit at the feast with the King. A feast that will not be just a one-time meal but heaven itself will be a perpetual eternal feast of love that will never be interrupted or end. At that time he will usher in and fully establish his perfect rule and kingdom on Earth, where there are no more tears, pain, or dying... only love, joy, and bliss. In fact, a (maybe the) primary cause of the joy we experience now under God's rule (kingdom) of love is knowing we will one day experience his love fully and perfectly face to face without limit or interruption.

It is also a kingdom of hope. It is a sure hope (expectation) that we will fully experience what we now only have a taste of.

For an excellent article on the "already... but not yet" aspect of the kingdom click here.

For additional thoughts on this click here.

The arrogant seek to control and rule over the resources of creation but in the end, the meek will inherit the Earth. Why? They are humbly submitted to Earth's Creator, Sustainer, and true King and will use creation to honor Him as such.

⁷We are to fear God as children, not as criminals. This is a fear of correction for not listening to our Father's wise and loving instructions, not of condemnation and rejection for violating the law. A "spanking" hurts but when done out of love it is designed to bring us life. 

⁸Unlike us, Christ earned everything he received. Everything we receive is a gift i.e. by grace - earned for us and given to us by Christ. We couldn't earn it and because He did and extends what is rightfully His to us, we don't have to.

But he earned it nevertheless. How? He fulfilled the rightful requirements of the law because we were unable to - and assigns his complete record of perfect obedience to us as if it's ours - if we accept it. Do you accept his offer?

⁹It is worth noting that Christ encouraged us to pray that we not be tested by the evil one.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (evil one in the original)." Mat 6:13

He's encouraging us to pray we do not experience what Adam and Eve experienced or Job experienced or what Christ went through in the wilderness. Temptation (testing) is not God's preferred plan or design. These were all unique events with a specific purpose and not the norm.

Tests come and we can learn much from them but only because God can bring good out of evil. It is still evil and not what God created us for. 

Death, harm, and destruction are the fruit of our rebellion, not the fruit of our design. They are not the preferred experience he desires for us (and they will all be done away with in eternity). 

Evil is simply part of living in creation that is under bondage among broken humans, eagerly awaiting deliverance. If he want us to go through evil he would not have included this in the prayer he taught us.

God's glory or our delight?

When all our focus and energy is on honoring God, you would think we would get lost in the process. However, it is just the opposite. It is when and where we "find ourselves" most, are most grounded, and experience our greatest fulfillment and joy.

We don't get lost, but our trying to find fulfillment on our own, apart from or outside of God does.

Even though our greatest fulfillment is found in valuing (worshipping) another (i.e. God, who is most valuable), it is no less ¹our fulfillment we are experiencing. 

Our fulfillment is legitimate and important not just to us, but also to God. He created us to experience and enjoy Him and find our greatest joy and fulfillment in Him in doing so.

In turn, God experiences his own joy in bringing us joy. He is driven to bring the joy and delight in who He is - as Father, Son, and Spirit - to others in and through Himself who is the true source of life, love, and all things. God is thrilled when we delight in Him. He finds great ²delight in doing this.

But all this is the result of honoring God, not the goal. To say it simply, ³our greatest joy (fulfillment) is bringing the highest honor ³to another, not in seeking joy itself i.e. for its own sake.  

Because we are in the image of God we are wired to focus on another and find greatest joy in doing so because this is exactly what happens between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit.

And this is not just honoring anyone but the one Being that is most significant and honorable above all others and most worthy of all honor - the Creator and Giver of life, love, and all things.

If we truly desire to find our life, we must lose our life first, i.e. lose our hopes and attempts to find life outside of or apart from God. Because He is life. True life is ultimately and only in Him.

Related topics:

Are our desires good or bad? 

Who are we?

Created for Glory II

Crowned with glory and honor

Giving and receiving glory

Why God calls us to glorify him

The importance and necessity of the Trinity 

The essence of God's life

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¹Our desire for fulfillment isn't in question. We are designed by God Himself to be filled, but only by Him. It is a matter of how we best experience fulfillment - by seeking it directly, independent of God, or by seeking God and, in doing so, finding our greatest fulfillment. The Bible says it is only possible in and by the latter.

The most amazing part is this is also central to the very being of God himself. The Father finds the greatest joy in exalting another - i.e. his Son - and the Son in exalting his Father. This delight, love, and joy is the essence of who God is. The delight between the Father and Son is so great it tangibly manifests as God's Spirit, the third person of our triune God. God is Spirit and He is Love. 

Because we are like God, we too find greatest fulfillment in this same way, i.e. by exalting another. God not only instructs us to this end and in this way but actually lives this Himself. This is who God is and who He calls us to be i.e. like Him...in His image.

²...Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us' ”? - James 4:5 ESV

yearns -

ἐπιποθεῖ (epipothei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1971: From epi and potheo; to dote upon, i.e. intensely crave possession.

spirit -

πνεῦμα (pneuma)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4151: Wind, breath, spirit.

He caused to dwell - 

κατῴκισεν (katōkisen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2730: To dwell in, settle in, be established in (permanently), inhabit. From kata and oikeo; to house permanently, i.e. Reside. The spirit He put within each of us did not disappear but is dormant due to our rebellious unbelief.

According to the above passage, there is something about us - our breath-spirit-life-being - he put in us that he values, prizes, longs (yearns) for, and seeks to engage.

What is that something? Our being like God - in his image. He longs for Himself in us - i.e. that which is like Him. Since he created us like himself - in his image - he also longs for us. He longs for and delights in us because we are like Him. 

God is all about giving because He already has all that he needs within himself as the community of Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit.

³And so it also is with God. His greatest joy is bringing delight to another. First, the Son brings joy to the Father, then the Father to his Son, and then out through the Son to us, his adopted sons and daughters who are like God.

God's delight is like a parent who gives a legitimate gift to a child that the child wants and enjoys. As parents, we delight in doing so when we know it's in their best interest - and when they appreciate the love conveyed to us through that gift and are not just enamored with the gift or drawn away from the Giver by it.

God made the nations?

There is debate within the church of the validity of nations and/or borders. Does the Bible have anything to say about this? Let's see.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, (why?) that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him."- Acts 17:24‭-‬26 ESV

It appears from the above passage that the nation/state is a valid entity. The important question is why? 

Due to man's rebellion towards God, man seeks to unite in that rebellion whenever possible. This was the problem at the tower of Babel. Man determined to combine his resources in order to "climb to the heights of heaven" i.e. to achieve heaven on earth and bring in the kingdom of heaven (bliss) to earth without God-Christ, the rightful King. (This is the current goal of one world government - driven by corporations and those who back and control them. They seek to capture and control the economic resources of mankind, often in order to fleece them - Though some genuinely seek to serve their fellow men and women). 

This is the result of mans rebellious attempt to exalt himself, and is directly contrary to God exalting man due to man humbling himself. 

Salvation is of the Lord only. Man cannot save himself...not permanently. As a result God had to divide them up by language i.e. into different people groups, which resulted in different ¹nations. Nations were instituted by God himself in response to man's rebellion. 

Man's greatest need is to be reunited with his Creator, not uniting together in their rebellion against Him. Some seek a one world government in order to acquire unlimited power and control over all the resources of creation and other creatures. They have no regard of God's intention for His creatures or creation. 

According to the above passage reconnecting with God best occurs when we are in our separate Nation/States i.e. so... "that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him."

It appears nations and the borders needed to distinguish them is not only legitimate but the necessary and best way for humanity to reach out and seek God again.

To see if God has anything to say about immigrants or immigration click here.

For a discussion on values culture and racism click here.

For a discussion on racism and the necessity of forgiveness click here

For a discussion on what divides us click here.

For a discussion of the harmful nature of identity politics click here.

What is the nature of racial privilege? Click here for a discussion.

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¹To have different nations is to have boundaries or borders. While some object to this idea no one objects to having a fense or wall around their property or doors on their home. Why do we do this? We live in a broken world and therefore desire to protect those we value and cherish. 

To voluntarily invite someone into our home is a kind and loving thing but it's not wise if we invite people in who have ill intent towards us and our family. We would not invite liars, thieves, or murderers in our house for good reason. Heaven itself does not allow such people entry. 

Doorways are also entry ways through which we invite people we trust into the sacred dwelling place we call home so we might welcome, honor and serve them.

Unbelief diminishs us

Because of our rebellious distrust of God and our subtle but passionate desire to make life work without him, we are no longer in a relationship with Him (as we were meant to be) and experiencing His infinite love (the necessary spiritual nourishment we were created and designed to have) with all the delight, bliss, and strength that comes from being connected to Him. As a result, we are stunted in our abilities and ¹never develop to our full God given potential. We are ¹far less than we were created to be. 

This is true not only spiritually and emotionally, but physically. As our health declines with age, we experience disease and eventually die. None of this was part of our original design. 

As well, our senses and abilities are only a fraction of what they were meant to be and we have the potential for (and will one day be if we are in Christ. In Christ, all of this will one day ultimately be reversed and eliminated).

If we are not restored to God, our diminishing abilities and the negative results will continue beyond our present existence and only increase. We will become even more fragmented, diminished and entrenched in the negative dispositions we now have and display, e.g. frustration, anger, fear, anxiety, depression, indifference to or even hatred of God, etc. 

Without connection and union with the Source of love and life we are like spiritual and emotional black holes collapsing in on ourselves from the void left by God's absence. We will only increase in our sense of emptiness. This will become even more acute over time with no chance of relief.

In our current existence we at least experience occasional temporary relief through the use of the various gifts that God gives us - both internal and external - but always with a constant search and hope for more (this drives all our actions when we are not connected and in union with God). 

In our next existence, without our Creator or access to His creation, we will be fully given over to our own devices and have no such experience or hope of love. We will have no access to the external gifts or the ability to exercise the internal ones, but only an perpetual longing and thirst for love - now masked by the use of God's gifts. This will be our hell.

So what is our problem? 

In this life, we try to build our sense of identity, meaning, purpose, and value trhrough ²everything but God. He is not our focus, His creation is - with access to and use of all the gifts this life brings us. 

However, created things are finite. We were created for the infinite.

If we refuse God's offer (again our choice) to restore us back to Him and our ³true identity, we will go into eternity continuing on this current trajectory. The difference is we won't have all the resources, blessings, and gifts we now enjoy and use to maintain our independence from God. 

Absent God, we attempt to use all things to maintain our sense of identity, meaning, value, and purpose. We are like rebellious children using all the good things our parents give us to avoid the very ones who gave them to us i.e. our parents.

If we return to God and abandon our rebellious attempts to make life work without Him, we will be restored to the true purpose of our existence, and experience our greatest potential, fulfillment, and the delight He longs to give us (you) in Him. Will you return?

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price." - Rev 22:17

Are we truly rebels against God? For more click here.

Does God love rebels? Click here and find out. 

For a further discussion on why hell is our choice click here.
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¹Not unlike a malnourished child genetically encoded to be a genius or an exceptional athlete who never developed to their full potential. As a result, they developed with less than average intelligence or become wheelchair-bound because they never received the proper nourishment they needed and were designed to have.

²We use all the good gifts of God - meant to show us his love - to maintain our independence from God. Not unlike a rebellious child using the good things his parent provides to betray his parents.

³His beloved image bearers who are designed to partake in the community of love between the Father, Son, and Spirit - and all the delight that comes with and in it - in the same way they do (because we are like Him).

Full of grace and truth

When Christ walked among us He was characterized as being full of two qualities...

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth..." John 1:14

To describe him in this way indicates that both grace and truth define him and are central to his character.

At first glance these qualities may appear at odds and in tension with each other. Are they?

Truth points out the right way of doing things and exposes error. It is the opposite of a lie and can feel harsh on occasion e.g. to discover we are living a lie or a not being honest is unpleasant - i.e. it doesn't feel very gracious. But if we are living according to a lie this causes harm to others as well as ourselves. Lies have real consequences that must be addressed if we are to be loving to those negatively impacted.

Grace extends to us kindness we do not deserve (even when we are occasionally less than truthful and honest). This can appear to promote the opposite of living according to truth i.e. that it's ok to not be truthful when it isn't.

What makes Christ so unique and glorious is he did not back off the truth; that our rejection of truth (and His Son who declared himself to be the truth) causes harm and must be addressed (to allow lies to go unaddressed is not fair to those who are harmed by them). 

But he also didn't let the destructive consequences of our dishonesty or deception fall on us. He fully addressed it by taking those consequences onto Himself so we might not have to. That is grace. 

In doing so He did not compromise truth or abandon love but was faithful to both i.e. he was full of grace and truth.

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law (truth) was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he (Jesus) has made him (the Father) known. - John 1:16‭-‬18 ESV

The fullness of Christ is that he manifests the full spectrum of who God is. He is a God of truth but also a God of love.

...he has made him known...  

Christ being full of grace as well as truth showed us the loving nature of God i.e. He is not just a God of justice and judgment for our rebellion to and violation of His design (Gods will-truth - i.e. the true nature of how things are and were designed to operate) but He is also the God of love, compassion, kindness and grace.

Christ died to address the consequences of our rebellious distrust (because of truth i.e. violation of God's design-truth matters and the harm it causes must be addressed and because of His compassion-love). He provided a solution to our rebellion from His design without comproming the value and importance of that design, while at the same time taking action that prevents our rebellion from destroying us i.e. He also died because of love. He now leaves it up to us to accept His offer and provision to be in right standing (righteous) before God, but as a gift, not something we earn or can achieve. 

This is not only talking about God's faithfulness to us in our rebellion (grace) but His faithfulness to righteousness and truth.

We are also told Christ is a King and priest after the order of Melchizedek. Who this character is, is not as important as what he represents. 

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. - Hebrews 7:1-3

Christ came declaring the good news of the Kingdom of God; the good news of His reign (rule) as King. But His is not just a righteous rule of justice (truth) but of love (grace, compassion).

There are even hints of this in the Old Testament before Christ came to us as a man.

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. - Psalm 85:10 ESV

God still demands faithfullness to what is right (truth) but he also meets those demands himself. Christ is both the Judge and the one who is judged (who took our judgment upon himself) within the same person. And that for our sake i.e. for love. Do you accept His offer?

For a discussion on why our rebellions distrust matters click here

For a discussion on why judgment is necessary click here

For a discussion on the value of tension and paradox click here.

God loves rebels, not rebellion

God loved us in our rebellion from the very beginning. Why? 

Because: 

1. He is love and 

2. He also seeks to honor us - as bearers of His image - and our freedom to choose (even if it results in us not choosing Him and causing harm to ourselves and others). 

But what is the significance of this kind of embrace and pursuit of us?

By ¹pursuing and loving us in our rebellion (i.e. as sinners) God wins us back to himself while still allowing us to maintain the dignity of ²our choice (we freely rebel but also freely turn to Him in trust and away from that rebellion). In this way God - over time - wins us over to submitting to Him freely, out of love, gratitude, and trust (vs obligation - which can never satisfy anyway), while also allowing us to retain the dignity of choosing Him as dignified and glorious bearers of His image.

But The Bible tells us that God chooses us, not the other way around. How does that work? 

Though God ³chooses to awaken us to his love, it is still us doing the choosing after we are awakened and see that love - i.e. we are spiritually dead and blind due to our rebellious unbelief - and in His mercy and love He opens our eyes and reveals Himself as He truly is; glorious, beautiful, and trustworthy in every way. 

In doing so, He does (did) not override our will but opens (opened) our eyes to see his love. Once we see it, we willingly, gladly, and freely choose to pursue Him.

Our problem isn't our wills but our blindness. Our eyes must be opened to see Him (and ourselves) ⁴truly as He is (and we are).

When we pray for God to change us we should not pray he overrides our will but enlivens it by revealing his love to us more fully so we might fall more in love with Him and freely, willingly and gladly pursue him more faithfully.

Love and trust are tied together. The more we see his relentless pursuit, love, and commitment to us regardless of our ongoing rebellious distrust (even as His children) the more we trust in and pursue his directions (will) for us.

In this same way, God calls us to also love others - to love them as He has faithfully loved us in our

ongoing rebellious distrust of His love. Without seeing and basking in His love for us it is impossible to love others in this way.

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¹In order for God to do so, our rebellion and all its destructive consequences had to be addressed. God can not simply ignore destructive behavior. It must be accounted for. 

But God perfectly addressed this Himself - in and through Christ - so that when we accept His solution and provision, He is free to now pursue us only out of love - as if we never rebelled (or are now rebellious). Once we are in Christ, He only has love for us, not condemnation and contempt. He approaches and embraces us completely and only with love and total acceptance.  He looks upon us as righteous in the same way he looks upon his Son. 

He still addresses our rebellious unbelief, but as a loving Father does an immature child and not as our judge seeking justice for an injured party. Christ became the injured party so we no longer have to pay for the injuries we cause others (though we still may experience negative consequences of our poor behavior and choices).

²If it is to be genuine love on our part, it must be free and not coerced or programmed. Love that is coerced is not love at all. Programmed love is a contradiction of terms.

We draw closer to God because we choose to but we choose to because He reveals His beauty (attractiveness) to us which stirs in us a desire to pursue Him. If we are not attracted to Him, we can simply ask Him (a choice we are responsible for) to more clearly reveal Himself to us as He truly is. That is a prayer He always says yes to if we are sincere.

³We may bristle at the idea of God choosing some to follow Him, but not others. However, did he not choose Abraham and his household among all other peoples and only him? And after this, he also only chose Noah and his family to enter the ark and be saved from the flood. We do not bristle at these stories or consider them unfair, but see them as God showing mercy to the ones he called to obey. 

Was God being unfair to those he did not choose? No. He simply allowed others to continue on the path they were already on and had freely chosen. God was not being unfair to others by choosing Abraham and Noah. He was being gracious to Abraham and Noah. So it is with everyone he calls to Himself. None of us deserves His mercy and kindness, yet He extends these to some of us rebels nevertheless. But we are no less rebels.

I propose that a reason God does not choose to open everyone's eyes to see His love is it causes those he does awaken to appreciate His love more, i.e. if God had not opened my eyes I would have gone into eternity without Him. 

This isn't a theory, it actually happens, and if not for the grace of God, there I also go. This realization causes me (you) to appreciate His love in a way I (you) would not have if eternal separation from God - the very Source of love and life - wasn't a very real possibility. This results in those He awakens to experience His love to the greatest possible extent. 

To most fully appreciate good, the possibility of evil must also exist and be a real threat.

⁴And who are we? We are rebellious and broken image bearers of God, whom He loves, values and seeks to restore - like an old, very rusted and corroded machine that got lost and left to the elements. We no longer functions properly (if at all) because of all the dirt, corrosion, and rust. God knows the true value of this machine and that all it needs is to be taken apart, cleaned, grinded, filed, sanded, buffed, polished and reassembled to operate as good as new again.