Imagine a group of siblings fighting over the TV, doing whatever they want, yelling at their father, and ignoring his rules and boundaries. The teen brother is swearing, the teen sister is hitting her little brother. What do you think the father will do? Start yelling back? Laying down the law and handing out punishments?
Well, most of us, if we were in his shoes, would not stand for it. We would be very angry. We wouldn’t feel very loving toward those disrespectful children. Thankfully our heavenly Father is not like that. His love is agape which is the Greek word meaning unconditional, regardless of the response of the recipient.
Those bratty kids were us before we gave our lives to Christ. We used to sin in whatever way we felt like. Maybe we still do. It’s kind of ironic to realize that people who say that they don’t want to obey God are actually obeying the devil. But many are just so blinded that they don’t even realize it. The key reason is that many don’t believe he even exists.
But God has so much mercy and love toward us that he gave us a new life through Christ’s death and resurrection. We can’t earn a ticket to heaven by being good for our Father. It is only by the grace of God through Christ that we have been saved (Eph 2:8). That is something to praise God for. He transfers us to his kingdom of light and empowers us to stop always obeying the devil and obey him instead.
Dear Father God, thank you so much for lovingly rescuing me from my rebellion against you and forgiving my every wrong because of Jesus’ blood spilled for me. Help me to surrender to you anew each day. Give conviction and soft hearts to my friends and family who are still obeying the devil.
Throughout this day: Spend a few minutes or longer praising God for his saving love as well as asking him to draw your loved ones to him.
Photo Credit: Volodymyr Leush