God is love is the most succinct definition of God written in the Bible. Yet there are so many who wrestle with this statement, after all how can God be love yet he allows evil to reign? In part one of this series we looked at the fact that though God has a gift for all of us, we have to step out and take it. This simple process of coming to receive grace reveals the nature of God. As simple as it is, it shows us that while evil does exist, while there are many dying, it is not God’s intent or purpose for them. We can either choose grace or reject it, both are within our reach. Love is defined as unselfish, unconditional gentle and not forceful 1 Corinthians 13:4-10.

Love without Condition

Is it safe to conclude that God is soft and pliable? Can we bend him to fit our needs? No, not at all. If we read carefully 1 Corinthians 13:6 we see clearly that Love rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in truth. Iniquity is lawlessness basically no regard for order and rules. In Isaiah 55:8 God says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts” on our own we cannot even begin to have the mind of God, nor can we understand the depth and height of true love, which bears no condition. The closest example we have to true love is the love parents have for their children. However even with parents we see a bias, a desire to spare their kids from punishment, even when their dead wrong. True love doesn’t say you must die or that you must be punished but true love is fair it is totally commitment to doing right and as a result the guilty must face a rebuke & fair punishment, which in the end is only just.

Grace: Receive the Gift

You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? – Jim Rohn God has given us our own mind and with it the ability to reason. No other creature on earth has the ability to reason, yet many of us live our lives without regard or thought. We Instead let someone else do our thinking, we let someone else lead our lives. Keep in mind however that most times this control doesn’t happen consciously. This type of control happens when we are not making deliberate attempts to govern our day to day lives. We inadvertently end up letting someone else lead and guide us. No one should ever take away our ability to choose, choice is vital to our human existence. For example the early Americans valued choice so much that they sort to create a place where they would be free to choose. Today however many of us are slaves to our addictions, our jobs, and our mindsets.

We must Come

“Faith is the gift of God, but the power to exercise it is ours. Faith is the hand by which the soul takes hold upon the divine offers of grace and mercy. While the sinner cannot save himself, he still has something to do to secure salvation. ‘Him that cometh to Me,’ says Christ, ‘I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37. But we must come to Him ; and when we repent of our sins, we must believe that He accepts and pardons us.”

– Patriarchs & Prophets, Page 431

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