Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | God's love not important in daily life | Rom 12:12 | StrongCare | 7940 | ||
What difference does God's "love" make in everyday living? I often hear people trying to comfort others by reminding them that God "loves" them. That is surely crucial when it comes to salvation, since it was God's love that sent Jesus and it is Jesus' sacrifice that saves from hell. That said, the reality of God's "love" is so different from the romantic notions that most have, that God's "love" is more scary than comforting. For instance, God loves the world (jn 3:16) but some will be condemned to hell. God loved Job but allowed him to lose family, possessions and health. God loved Jesus but planned for Him a life of persecution, humiliation and death by torture. God "loves" the Christians in Sudan, but they are being killed, raped, tortured and sold into slavery. Since God's love is not at all incompatible with our suffering, why bring it up as if it mattered? |
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2 | God's love not important in daily life | Rom 12:12 | Hank | 7941 | ||
The answer for me can be summed up in one word: Hope. And I do not mean hope in the sense of wishful thinking, but in the Biblical sense of confident expectation. God in His love for us does not pamper us or kiss a boo-boo on our knee when we stumble the way a mother does for her child. He does not give us a glass of cold lemonade to quench our thirst on a hot summer day the way a loving spouse will do. But by the act of His Son on the cross He gives us His immeasurable love, the offer of eternal life through Christ. And upon acceptance of that love, we have a hope that is both sure and steadfast. A life led with nothing to hope for but misery here and eternal misery hereafter is not a thing to be desired. Our life on earth is no Eden. But we do have a blessed hope in Christ Jesus. Hope of righteousness (Gal.5:5); Hope of glory (Col.1:27); Hope of salvation (1 Thess.5:8); Hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7); Living Hope (1 Pet.1:3).....As you observe in the declarative part of your question, God's redemptive love does not guarantee exemption from human suffering in this life. Indeed we, all of us, have our thorns in the flesh against which God's love does not shield us. And who is immune to crying out in pain and distress, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Why do the righteous have to suffer? The book of Job raises the question, but does it answer it? Possibily I can understand why you would say that God's love is more scary than comforting. But don't you feel that it is we who are lacking in our ability to delve into the mind of the Almighty God? He is indeed awesome and transcendent, and we are merely His finite creation. His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts not our thoughts..... Still and all, romantic notions of love nothwithstanding, I believe that God does manifest His providential love and concern for His people here on earth in countless ways. We may not always read them as being His love, no more than a child reads parental discipline as love. I am the father of three children, all of them grown now. But how many times can I recall when my wife and I had to refuse to buy them all the candy they wanted and were told, "Mommie and Daddy, you don't love me anymore." Or the time I stood by my little daughter's side when the pediatrician was treating a painful boil, and she looked dolefully into my eyes and said, "Please, Daddy, make him stop hurting me." Maybe God's love for His children is something like that. --Hank | ||||||
3 | God's love not important in daily life | Rom 12:12 | Searcher56 | 8050 | ||
Hank ... we need to have hope added to love, as you said. Plus, faith. Faith, hope and love. His love is a commitment. He is faithful. You were there for your daughter. You showed her love, faith and gave her hope. She probably did not understand it. One day he will. Why did Job suffer ... to show us that suffering is not always a result of doing wrong. It is to show us that He loves us. That we sustain us. It is to show us He is faithful and hopefully our faith will grow. We need to maintain hope - knowing that our suffering will be short and we have enternal life with Him, without suffering. |
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