17 March 2008 Devotion for Today “Why God Doesn’t Pass Us By” 1 John 4:10

17 March 2008 Devotion for Today “Why God Doesn’t Pass Us By” 1 John 4:10

A few days ago I awoke to hear the news on television- laying in bed as I watched it- probably not the best way to start the day. There were stories of murders, a fire that burned someone’s house down, how the economy is in shambles. More casualities in the war in Iraq. One that particularly bothered me was a 9 year old child who was killed while playing with a hand gun because he had been left unattended. I tell you, it made me want to pull the covers over my head and not get up. Makes me wonder, why doesn't God pass it by? Why should God care for so fallen a universe and so depraved a humanity? Why doesn't God pass us by?

In my first church out in the country town of Gainesville, Texas, up on the Oklahoma border there was a dear, sweet Christian couple who served actively in that church. He was a deacon and she taught Sunday School. They loved the Lord, and they loved their son, their only child, a son who turned out to be a terrible disappointment. Now grown, he was the same age as I was. But this boy was constantly in trouble with the law and in and out of jail for drug abuse, and robbery (to finance his habit). He would not work, he wanted to do nothing but get into trouble. In order to defend him in court and to make restitution in the endless series of robberies, they lost everything they had. They mortgaged their farm and lost it. It made me angry to see what their son put them through. Keep in mind I was just 23 years old, and asked the father and mother, "Why are you doing this to yourselves? Why not kick him out and make him fend for himself? Look what he’s done- he’s ruined you!” I regret saying those words, especially how, in love, they turned to me and said, "Preacher, he is our son. He's our boy. He’s all we got. And you're very young. And, if you ever have a child of your own, you'll understand."

Yet God so loved the world. And what is more, He still loves the world. Why doesn’t God just pass us by? Its because His attitude toward us is just like those godly parents had for their prodigal son. Its an amazing thing, when you think about it that God not only loved us once but He still does. This is because God’s love for us is described in a special word that means love, but completely unlike the love we see going on in the world. Not the eros love- to describe the love between a man and woman. Not philos love, which is brotherly love- we get the word Philadelphia from that love. Instead it is agape- a self giving, self sacrificing love, an unconditional love that no matter what we do to Him, God keeps loving us. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."—1 John 4:10. We cannot earn it, we cannot buy it, we sure don’t deserve it. The only way to have it is to receive it as a free and unconditional gift or not at all. What wondrous love this is to know that in spite of what we do, God still loves us and does not reject us.

May the reality of this love change our hearts and attitudes toward those we know today we think are undeserving of our own respect and love. Have a blessed day!