God's Love

God's love is one of those things thats hard for people to grasp. Many people wonder if God existed why would he let bad things happen? Or they wonder if God wants us to love him why doesn't he just tell us to love him? or make us love him? or show himself so we can believe and then in turn love him?

Those are some deep theological questions that many theologians still debate today. I am not saying I have the answer to all these questions but I do know that God wants us to choose to love him and others. God doesn't want to force us into loving him or pop up in the sky one day and boldly tell the entire world of his existence (he has given us many other ways of knowing he exists and shown himself to us in many other ways).

I am sure the analogy is much stronger if you have a child but since I don't I will give from my own experience. My wife and I recently got a puppy and we love the dog to death. He is awesome and fun and amazing to be around. Why did we get a puppy though? Why does anyone get a puppy? Most people just want puppies so they can have something that loves them and shows them affection, cuddles with them on the couch, hangs out with them, goes hunting with them, whatever. They purchase a friend/companion/son/daughter, but yet the puppy doesn't always do the right thing, sometimes he pees in the house or he chews up something he shouldn't, and he gets into trouble. The puppy is not perfect but yet we still love him.

However, if we were to use the logic of the above questions on the puppy analogy, why does God let bad things happen? Why does bad things happen to our puppy? Most of the time we try to prevent the bad things from happening to our dog but he often creates them or others create them, etc. Its a pattern of events that we can't control. If God began to keep bad things from happening that would create a world in which only good could happen thus destroying all semblance of free-will and the choice of good vs bad.

Why doesn't he force us to love him? Or make us love him? etc. That's like saying to us proud puppy owners why we didn't just go out and by a teddy bear. That teddy bear is never going to make a mistake and it is always going to cuddle with us when we want it to. It can hang out with us in the car or at home. It seemingly perfect but yet its a relationship in which is forced and not real because they teddy has no choice in the matter. The ones that willingly choose to love us like the puppy or friends or significant others mean the most to us because those are the ones that love us for who we are and in spite of our faults.

God does love you and wants you to love him back. Its your choice and your chance. He could pop up in a cloud and in a way force you to love him but he doesn't want that and I am sure you don't either. Its your choice.

Have a good Holiday season!

Mark