The Bible is clear. God IS Love! Father God has a fiery love for all His children—the kind of love that relentlessly woos us and draws us to healing and wholeness, to salvation and to the deepest places of intimacy!
Father’s love is radical. He so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son—knowing the price that had to be paid for our sin, willing to risk everything for our sakes.
Father’s love is unfailing. Nothing can separate us from His love. Father’s love is healing.
Father’s love is transforming. Father’s love is delivering. Father’s love is eternal. Father’s love is more powerful than all the hate Satan and this fallen world can or will ever generate.
So, those whom Father loves live in a protected place above and beyond the brokenness of this world—blessed with health and wealth and favor that always thwarts the enemy and destroys his schemes… NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Frankly that last paragraph was hard for me to write because it is so anti-Christ in its assumptions!)
Does Father ALWAYS love us? Yes!! Does that make the Christian life easy? NO!!
Consider Paul. He was imprisoned wrongfully repeatedly. He was stoned to death—and raised back up—but I bet he was mighty sore! He was shipwrecked—repeatedly, beaten and whipped, and dealt with a thorn in the flesh that Father—IN HIS LOVE—chose not to remove.
I can tell you this after 55 chemo treatments and the surgery that preceded it all: Father’s love for me and for those He has entrusted to my care as a pastor has never been the question. Therefore, I, or those I serve, or the spiritual environment around us, or something beyond my/our understanding is better off for my momentary and light afflictions. Father loves me, you, and Appalachia—but His love flows from a viewpoint far beyond my sight of vision or my understanding—or yours.
J.D. Walt of Seedbed wrote a blog entitled, How Mature Followers of Jesus Handle Undeserved Hardships. In it, he wrote, Here is how mature, Spirit-filled followers of Jesus think and reason:
The world in which we live is a very fallen place.
AS a result, life can be very unfair at times.
Injustice will often seem to win in the short run.
The powers of darkness and evil are real and they vehemently oppose Jesus Christ.
When something awful happens to someone ardently pursuing the will of God it should come as no surprise.
The operative question is not, “Why me?” It is, “Why not me?”
In fact, this kind of opposition should serve as a confirming sign that the one under attack is actually proving a threat to the enemy.
Paul’s sufferings did not come because Father ignored him; they came because Father loved him—and those he was called to save. You see, the world doesn’t revolve around us, and Father’s love is not limited to pampering us! His love is so powerful, it calls us to love Him whether we understand the situation or not—and to think about how He might be using our situation to impact some or many other lives. His love is all-encompassing, calling us to trust in His love, especially when it least makes sense!
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