Allowances part 4
It's like we expect God to kick us when we're down, when in fact, He makes allowances for when we fall. God knew what was in man's heart when He created him. It wasn't a shock when man did what man does. It wasn't a shock when Adam ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and it wasn't a shock when man nailed Jesus to the cross. And yet, when Jesus was ON the cross, look at what He said: "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do..." (Luke 23:34). I honestly don't know where we got this idea of an angry, vengeful God. Because even in the Old Testament He showed the people of Israel forgiveness and mercy over and over again. We looked a little bit at the system of animal sacrifice that protected us from our inevitable failure at keeping the Law of Moses. So we see a God who met us on our level and still loved us and protected us. Protected us from ourselves. Because we didn't know what we were doing. We were doing the best we could with what we had... but we didn't know what we had. We didn't think we had anything--certainly not mercy, and grace, and love--so we tried our best to earn it. We looked for love in all the wrong places and found anything and everything else. And yet God still made allowances. He sent His only begotten Son. He GAVE His Son to us. And the best thing religion could figure out to do with Him was to reject Him and kill Him. Which makes what Jesus said on the cross even more powerful. He wasn't angry. He was in love. He asked for forgiveness FOR US because HE knew that we DIDN'T know what we were doing. He wasn't mad at us for doing the best we could. He simply wanted something better for us. A more excellent way. And according to 1 Corinthians 12:31, "...yet shew I unto you a more excellent way," and the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13... that more excellent way is love. It's not, "an eye for an eye." That's what the Law said, but God only gave us the Law as a school master to bring us to Christ. JESUS said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:38-39). Something different. Something new. Something better. So instead of "earning what you get according to your actions" God made allowances for us to be forgiven, and to forgive each other. He filled us up with something better, so that we wouldn't just have to give back in kind what we were given. If someone slapped us, instead of an eye for an eye... instead of slapping them back... we could turn the other cheek. We could give what we have instead of giving back what they gave us. We could break the cycle and show God to people by showing love to people. We could let what's already inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. Not worrying about what the world has to offer, but giving the world what the Kingdom has to offer! Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Love, in other words. And, eventually, we might just figure out that while God can, and will, and does, pick us up when we fall... He is the One who is able to KEEP us from falling!