The Devil wants us to think that God loves us only when we do impressive things or at least don’t do stupid things.
He wants us to think that our status with God is based on performance, not relationship.
It’s true that how we conduct ourselves does have a bearing on how God responds to us, but it never has a bearing on whether God loves us.
We’re loved despite the fact that we’re sinners.
That’s why Jesus came to be our atoning sacrifice showing God’s unmerited love for the humans He created.
If God loves us through no effort of our own, is there any reason to live a life that pleases Him?
Can we just party all night long with no regard for goodness and still coast into glory?
No.
Listen, God’s love for our tainted souls abides no matter what. That’s unconditional.
But God’s offer of eternal life IS conditional.
Salvation comes to those who live to please God.
Here is a passage that points to that promise, a passage from the last chapter of Isaiah:
“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my Word.” (Isaiah 66:2)
Wow.
That’s easy to understand.
We just have to do the hard work of living humbly with a willing-to-repent attitude and awe-inspired respect for the Bible’s teachings.
You and I will likely come to at least one intersection today where we’ll choose the path of humility or the path of pride.
We might choose, at least initially, the path of pride. If that happens, we’ll need to be contrite before the Lord which means willing to confess our sin, ask forgiveness and commit to looking again at the Bible in order to make the better choice next time.
If this is our response to our sin, it will be clear to God that we want to please Him.
And He will show us favor just as He promised in Isaiah 66:2.
It will be better, though, if we don’t make a wrong turn. We’ll receive the blessings of being His “favored” and He won’t have to deal with the disappointment of seeing us turn off His path, even for a brief time.
As always, I love you
Martin
