Experiencing God's love
- Jacob Ninan
God loves all people and there is no partiality in Him. He does not want even a single person to perish, and that was why He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins (Jn.3:16).
But all of us do not experience God's love to the same extent! That is not because God shows partiality, but because it depends on us. The Bible says that God came into the world and to the people whom He had created, but most people rejected Him (Jn.1:10,11). But those who received Him were given the privilege to become His children (v.12). There we see that it is our choice that makes the difference.
Even among those who received Him and became His children, all do not enjoy His love equally. That again is not because He has some favourite children, but because it depends on how we obey Him. Jesus said that if we obeyed Him, the Father would love us and come and live with us (Jn.14:23). Jesus Himself obeyed the Father in everything, and so He enjoyed the Father's love to the maximum (Jn.10:17). The Father referred to Jesus as His Beloved Son with whom He was delighted (Mt.3:17).
God tests us sometimes to see if we would love Him more than everyone else and everything else. God was watching Abraham as he left his hometown and started off to an unknown place at the command of God, and also when he decided to let his nephew Lot take take the choicest part of the land in order to avoid a quarrel. When Abraham made the choice to sacrifice his son Isaac rather than disobey God, God was delighted and blessed Abraham tremendously (Ge.22:12). Is it surprising that when God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah He decided to take Abraham into confidence about it? (Ge.18:17,18).
Can we see what we miss if we ignore God and live our own lives?