“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” – 1 John 3:1a
Did you ever wonder why God created humans knowing they would disobey, reject, and hurt him? Wouldn’t it have been better to create a beautiful planet and have all the animals as pets? From our perspective, this might have seemed like a good option.
God isn’t like us, though. He made a fully-informed decision to create people, knowing he would have to redeem them so they would know his love. And that is his ultimate goal: He created humans so he could relate to us and form a great big, loving family.
We are amazingly fortunate if we understand that and enter the family of God. Once there, though, he has some requirements: He asks that we not rebel against him and that we not fight with our brothers and sisters.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? If you grew up in a family, you know there were times you disobeyed your parents, thinking your own way was better. And all of us who had siblings fought with them. But, God says, “no” to both those attitudes. In his family, we must submit to him as our Father, and we must love each other.
Oh, and one more thing: He also asks that we let others know he’s looking to adopt more kids. They can join this amazing family if they simply accept his invitation and come on in. It’s all about his love for us and the love he wants us to have for each other. Don’t miss it!
“We become truly personal by loving God and by loving other humans… In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of the Creator in us.” – Kallistos Ware
Walking Together on Holy Ground 
“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can’t. If a thing is free to be good it’s also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they’ve got to be free.
Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently, He thought it worth the risk. (…) If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will -that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings- then we may take it it is worth paying.” A quote from C. S. Lewis on the Case for Christianity applies so well to this blog article. I had to provide this lengthy quote. — Dennis Fisher
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Thank you, Dennis. I am always up for a lengthy C. S. Lewis quote. No one can say it like he does! This one is a gem.
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Amen!
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