23 czerwca 2015
You Only See Me When You Need Me!
A friend in Facebook complains in her post, "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot, I only exist we you need something." I'm not sure whether or not she actually meant to address it to somebody. But I can only imagine if God will say the same complaint to us. And to be honest, I sometimes wonder how many times did God had the same complaint to me (I'm also guilty of doing the same thing; shame on me!).
I mean, let's be honest: by nature, we only acknowledge God when we are in desperate need. And when we start to think we are strong enough to live without Him, we begin to forget Him. It's like a pilot who, after reaching the skies, says to his plane and his parachute, "I already got where I wanted to be, so I don't need you anymore." Ridiculous, right? Well, as a society who begins to forget God, that's what we are figuratively doing.
The good news is that even though in our sinful nature, we are running away from God, He is chasing us - just as a good shepherd chases his wandering sheep to rescue it from danger (Luke 15:4-7). And what's even amazing is that even though He can exist without us, He loves us so much that "He does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance [i.e. to turn from our sin back to Him]" (1 Peter 3:9, MEV). And so, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, MEV).
That's what makes the grace of God amazing. Truth is, we are not really reaching up to Him - and even if we try to do so, we just can't possibly do it. Even so, by His grace, He is reaching down to us. So, shall we reach for His hand and turn to Him?
- Shim'onai