God loves the lost

God loves the lost. This fact is missed because many people have an image of God as some old bearded guy just sitting on a throne somewhere ‘up there.’ He’s just waiting for the opportunity to punish us whenever we do anything displeasing to Him. They think He looks for that opportunity eagerly. They imagine He relishes the thought of another chance to condemn us to pain and suffering. He is angry, and He can’t wait to give us what we deserve! As supposed proof of His displeasure many people say He deals out sickness, disease, poverty, war and famine to remind us just how unhappy He is with us. Some go so far as to point to a few select misapplied verses from the Bible and say things like, “God laughs at those people who He judges as evil!” and “He delights in watching the destruction of those who’ve done wrong!” The Westboro Baptist people are an example of this kind of thinking.

Ezekiel 18:23
“Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?”
This errant concept of our loving heavenly Father is also (sadly) alive and well in the established Christian church. I know this is true, because for years I was one of them! The people of God should know their Father and His character, and yet for various reasons many don’t. Distractions, lack of good teaching, personal ‘history,’ apathy and even unbelief are just a few of the reasons why this is so. That this is the case with so many Christians is sad enough in itself, but it doesn’t stop there. The simple truth is that there are many unsaved people watching Christians, looking in hope for signs that there is something different about us. Believe it or not many unbelievers often know intuitively that a Christian is to be unique and filled with power. Most people know that God is powerful, and since Christians claim to be His children they expect His children to also be powerful. Christians have to endure many of the same problems and issues as others, and even some unique ones. Through those difficulties come the opportunities the world is looking for in us, to be the witnesses Jesus has called His church to be;
Acts 1:8
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Notice He didn’t say we were to just witness (talk) about Him, but we are to be witnesses to Him. There is a big difference between just saying something about Christ and in the actual demonstration of the power of Christ in a changed human life. Therein is the issue so common today; you have many in the body of Christ who know about Jesus without intimately knowing Him and His character. They may be saved, but they do not walk in the power available to them because they don’t know him. They are not abiding in Him. They may be religious (which we will soon see can be a dangerous thing), but they are not tied in to the power and grace which only comes from a committed and consistent walk with Christ;
John 15:1-7
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

When we maintain a personal and committed relationship with Christ through submission to His Word and through prayer, we abide in Him. Bad (religious) teaching corrupts the truth of God’s Word through empty or incomplete thinking and assumptions. Bad teaching almost always has some elements of the truth, but these elements of truth are tainted with misunderstandings and misapplications. Religion subverts the truth of God (His Word) with things that on the surface sound good, but they have no power. The reason they have no power is because religion (bad teaching) is mankind’s attempt at understanding and approaching God, and relies on our own abilities and attributes instead of relying on what Christ has already done. Spiritual power – abiding power ¬– is derived from earnest and sincere prayer and in hearing and understanding God’s Word as the final authority (good teaching).

Bad teaching and lack of prayer will bring about corruption and bad results, just as good teaching and prayer will bring about good results. This is a universal life principle, and explains why so many people in the Church have a distorted view of the character and nature of God. Bad teaching, lack of prayer, lack of commitment and other things preempt the proper place of an abiding relationship with God through Christ. The foundation of faith for many in the body of Christ is wrong because they don’t know the Word of God. They don’t pray. They believe what they are told from someone else instead of confirming what they hear with the Word of God.

This is Part One of a multi-part series. Keep an eye out for the next installment!