**********
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 146.
Siting at dinner the other night my family was talking about all the crazy things going on these days. There are so many evil things happening in the world around us. Hatred and death seems to be on the rise. In the middle of our discussion the question, "Why did God create Satan in the first place?" was asked. Ever think about questions like this? Sometimes I think my brain will explode trying to figure out God particularly with regards to things like good vs evil.
Sitting around the dinner table we talked about evil and where it comes from. You see, that question assumes that Satan is the creator of evil. If that were the case then God must be one really messed up being having created the creator of evil. We all came to realize that that view of God just doesn't fit who we know this God to be. So maybe our assumptions about evil needed to be challenged a bit - and our discussion really did that for us that evening.
I just don't think God is the creator of evil. In fact, I really don't believe He created the creator of evil. You see, Satan was once an angel in heaven with God. He was described as the Angel of Light. His beauty was only eclipsed by the beauty and majesty of God. Something in Satan broke at some point in heaven. Jealousy became so profound that he turned against God. Satan took such a direct stand against God that he and his followers were kicked out of heaven.
Then God did something that changed heaven for all eternity. He took away free will. From that terrible moment when Satan choose his own way over God's, God asked all the heavenly beings to make a choice - God's way or the highway. One-third of the angels choose to follow Satan.
What a sad day that must have been in heaven. I'll bet close relationships were split up as a result of the choices individual angels had to make. Worse than that, can you imagine the dismay God felt as his heart was broken by those He created choosing to love someone other than Him? You see, it wasn't Satan that created evil. It was the ability to have free choice that made evil possible in the first place.
So why does God allow free will if it leads to evil? The answer to that question is summed up with one word - Love. Love without free will isn't really love at all. If I am forced to love someone is that really love. The power of love only happens when we have the choice as to whether we will love or not. God is willing to let free will be there, even when the result might be the creation of evil, just because love really can't be trusted unless it comes as a result of our freedom to choose.
Today's Bible reading comes from the Book of Jeremiah. It talks about the benefits of loving God when we choose to come to Him.
This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:2-3 (NIV)
I believe God is desperate for His creation to choose to come to Him. I don't mean that God is in any way broken in some way that we might be the fix to His situation. I think that God craves relationship in a way that is not only healthy but Oh so right. If God were just lonely He could create companions who would have no choice than to simply care for His every need. No, God doesn't need something from us, He wants us. He wants to commune with a creation that chooses to come to Him and relate with Him.
That's why God is willing to risk the possibility of free will turning to evil. He desires for us to choose to love Him. That's the only kind of love God will stand for. Forcing us to love Him by removing free will might eliminate the possibility of evil in this world but that's not a kind of love that makes any sense as far as I can see.
I believe God has placed that same draw to a real love in each and everyone of us. We are learning what counterfeit love looks and feels like and are beginning to reject that kind of love in our lives. Sure it is hard to see all the evil that our free will can create but I'm starting to believe that real love is worth the possibility of some to misuse the power of choice in ways that can cause damage in our society.
Next time you see a news report of some evil exhibited in our world remember where that evil came from. It wasn't God that created that evil it was our free will that made that evil possible. Then thank God for our free will.
It is what makes love possible in a way that allows love to be something worth taking chances for. It is why God has taken a chance on you and on me. He believes that our love for Him is worth the possibility that we will choose to turn away from Him. What a wild and risky strategy God is applying in our lives. Yet, without the risk of evil, the reward of a real love through choice wouldn't ever be a possibility for God or for those of us He calls His Children. Real love is what makes it possible for us to live this life as the victors God's love has spoken into our lives. Choose love and bask in the power of relating to a God that chooses to love you.
No comments:
Post a Comment