I awoke today with a small set of lyrics from a song that I have not heard for many, many years… Victim of Love. That was kind of weird. But, it was related to other thoughts I awoke with, or had been thinking of during my sleep. Thoughts of how so many people are unconscious recipients of God’s goodness, love, and mercy. How so many have been protected and blessed by His patience, kindness, and interventions; who either do not know, have never known, or simply disregard it in carelessness, ignorance, or even arrogance.
I am convinced that without God demanding a consideration of goodness and morality, there would be no goodness or morality in our world. Humankind is incapable of guarding and keeping such things as true goodness, true righteousness, genuine love, and real morality. Because of my corrupt and fallen nature, all that I touch or handle becomes tainted by the flesh, by my own sin and evil. God alone is the source of such things as true goodness and morality, of holiness and genuine love; and He alone could ever be the keeper and guardian of them.
According to the Scriptures, among humankind there are none righteous. No, not even one. For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (see Romans 3:10-12, Ps 14:1-3, and 53:1-3).
To the rich young ruler, who came and addressed Jesus as “good master,” he replied, “Why do you call me good?” There is only ONE that is good, he said, and that is God (see Luke 18:19).
I believe the Bible tells me that while I am capable of doing good, I am not inherently good. That, while I retain the image of God upon me, I have been distorted and corrupted in my being. And according to the Scriptures, God the Holy Spirit is the only power, source, and being in this universe that keeps us from sinking back into the state of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:9). It is His interventions that have brought the world back from the brink of total darkness, and kept us from sinking into the mire of our own evil. Without the light of God, the Holy Spirit, of Christ, of the call to holiness, morality and ethic; without the call to love others as ourselves, and to love God fully; without the demands of this, and even the threat of impending judgment upon evil itself and those aligned with it, the world would have long ago sunk into the abyss of darkness and wickedness.
I believe that without the means of His forgiveness and mercy, brought about by the intervention of Jesus Christ, God come to earth in human form, to take upon himself our sins and pay the price for them on a cross outside of Jerusalem, there would be no hope for anyone. Without Christ, not a single one of us would survive the light of God.
A victim of love I am! For “God so loved the world” that He sent His one and only begotten son, that all who believe on Him might not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
I am so thankful for God’s unrelenting love for humanity. So thankful for Jesus Christ. I owe Him my all. Nothing is of more worth or value to me. I have found the treasure hidden in the field that is worth everything I can muster! (Matthew 13:44).
Thinkerful 