Mon., Apr. 4/22
You have something you can give to God, something only you can give Him, and something that He will not have unless you decide to willfully give it to Him. He will not take it from you by force… in fact, He cannot.
Yes, there are things God cannot do: He cannot act in cross-purposes to His Nature… His Attributes. For example, God cannot be merciful to the point that it transgresses His justice. He cannot lie, for it transgresses His truthfulness. He cannot sin for it transgresses His Holiness. Understand that God, the great “I Am,” Is all of His Attributes at all times. He is Eternal, and He is Unchanging! Man is fickle and fallen; he transgresses his better self many times. But not God.
So what is this thing we can fully decide to give to God, this thing that apart from our giving it He will not have, and which He very much desires, yet which He will not, can not, take from us by His power? — It is our love.
No living being — human, divine, angelic or animal – has power to seize true love from another. And the dead certainly cannot do it! To give love is always and only in the power of the individual. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act,” urged Solomon (Prov. 3:27)
Jesus said that to love God was the greatest commandment (Deut. 6:5; Josh. 23:11; Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). It is commanded for our benefit, but obeyed (or not) only by each heart and will. John, known for his great love of the Lord, wrote “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love,” and adds “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:8, 19).
To think — a mere mortal has power to make the Almighty smile! And yes, also to cause Him to cry. Which will you do this day? Do you have for Him a gift, or a grief?
“O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!” (Ps. 31:23).
Press on…
Pressing on... 