Unconditional part 5
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. That's what I've been trying to say in this Rant series. God's love for us is unconditional. It comes without conditions. It came before we came, and it stayed through everything. Like my son and I say every night, "I love you and I can't stop loving you." So, having said all that, let's look at a couple of verses in Mark chapter 7. I'm going to jump around a little bit for the sake of time. Mark 7:9, "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." And onto Mark 7:13, "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." This is what we take from that: "I'm stronger than God. What I want is more important than what He wants. I can make His word of none effect. I can reject it and keep my own traditions." But here's the straight truth: God loves you, always has and always will. That's the straight truth, and the ultimate truth of the universe. Nothing can stop God from loving us. Nothing. And, I gotta say, I didn't REALLY understand that level of love--a Father loving His Son--until I had a son. And then, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, I got it. Because nothing will ever stop me from loving my son. Nothing. Ever. It doesn't matter what he does, or doesn't do. Because love isn't about what you do. Love is about who you are. And who God is. He IS love. He would have to stop being Himself in order to stop loving us. So while Jesus--yeah, the red letters, Jesus--said that our traditions make the word of God of none effect... I think He meant that when we get so caught up in our traditions--in what we're doing--we miss out on what HE'S doing. He's still doing it. We are not separated from His love. He can never, and will never, stop loving us. It's like when Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God. His presence was still there. Nothing had changed on His end. When they were ashamed of their nakedness... He fixed their problem. Not because HE had a problem, but because He didn't want THEM to have a problem. We can make the Word of God (which is Jesus, which is love) of none effect--to a degree--in our lives by rejecting it. But that doesn't change anything on God's part. He is not a spurned lover. He doesn't say, "Whelp. I offered. You said no. Smell ya later." I heard one preacher say it like this, "God is a stalker." He will never give up on us. Even when we give up on Him. He doesn't walk away. He stands firm and draws us to Himself. When He was lifted up from the earth on the cross, He drew us all into Himself. Planted Himself in all of us. He said, "This is where I want to be and I'm not ever leaving." I Ranted the other day about how the weakness of God is greater than man. Because His weakness IS man. He has a soft spot in His heart for us. He wants what is best for us. He has made it availabe. But we have to reach out and accept it. Receive it and release it. Receive it by releasing it. Release it by receiving it. It's available. It's right here. Inside of us. Don't reject it. Accept it. Let what's inside come out, by knowing and believing that it's in there!