Why Doesn’t God Stop Me?

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by eisakouo in Dying to Self, Luke

Tags

Abraham, Adam and Eve, attractiveness of sin, big sins, blood relationship, break fellowship with God, deep sin, father and younger son, free choice, free to go, God didn't stop me, God's voice, inheritance, Luke 15, Noah, the prodigal son, we cannot sever our relationship with God

I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of Christians who have fallen into deep sin. Occasionally, some of these folks have opened up and confessed something like this…“When I first started to drift into sin, I noticed God didn’t stop me. If it was so wrong, why didn’t God stop me? Since God didn’t do anything, I assumed it was alright to proceed. So I kept sinning because God didn’t do anything.” I have even had people tell me after they were married,“I knew I shouldn’t have married this person, but God didn’t say ‘No’. Why didn’t God stop me? Since God didn’t say anything, I thought it must have been alright.”

Why doesn’t God stop people from sinning, especially from participating in “big sins“? Shouldn’t God’s voice get louder when we are about to commit some whopper sized sin? God doesn’t stop us from sinning for the same reason He didn’t stop Adam and Eve from eating the forbidden fruit. God didn’t stop Adam and Eve for the same reason He didn’t stop Noah from making moonshine and exposing himself. God didn’t stop Noah for the same reason He didn’t stop Abraham from lying to everybody he met about his wife being his sister. God doesn’t stop us because He loves us and gives us the freedom to choose.

In Luke 15 we are introduced to the story of a loving father who allowed his younger son to walk out the door with his inheritance in tow. This younger son insulted his father by asking for his inheritance early, long before his father passed. The son basically treated his father like he was dead. I am sure the father was wounded by this harsh demand, but he granted it. He basically said, “If you want to act and live like your father is dead, then go ahead… I will let you. It will hurt and wound me, but you are free.”

God doesn’t stop us from sinning for the same reason the father in Jesus’ parable didn’t fling himself across the door and say, “Stop it son, I won’t let you leave!” It is not the nature of God. God loves each of us so much, He allows us to make our own choices, even though He knows what the consequences will be. Even though some consequences are more devastating than others, He voice will not modulate.

There’s a very important principle all believers need to understand. We cannot sever our relationship with God, but we can break fellowship with Him. The whole time the prodigal son was away, he was still a son but He had left the presence and favor of his Father. Christians can do this. Through Jesus Christ we have a “blood relationship” with God… Jesus’ shed blood. Even though we break fellowship with God, the blood relationship remains… we are still His children.

Once you become a Christian, God establishes a love relationship with you. He is your Father and nothing can ever change this. But if you choose to rebel and disobey the Father, He’ll allow it. He will never leave you, but if you walk out of fellowship with Him–He will let you go. One of the messages of the Bible is that God loves us so much we are free to go. He will never force any of us to stay in fellowship with Him. So, if we are bound and determined to do something as foolish as walking out on God, He won’t stop us. This is how so many believers have gotten themselves into their messes. God doesn’t coerce obedience and loyalty; He wants us each to freely love and serve Him.

Blessings – From God’s Incubator

Pastor

Just What Is God Really Like?

02 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by eisakouo in Luke

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

a mean God, Dillon Burroughs, explaining God, funeral of a child dying, God searches for us, God talking a child, God's love, heart deformity, inaccurate concept of God, Jesus came to reveal the Father, Luke 15, what kind of God do you believe in

Many people go around asking others, “Do you believe in God?” The response is usually in the affirmative. Most do believe in God. Maybe the better question to ask is, “What kind of God do you believe in?” This gets to the heart of the issue. There is something worse than being a non-believer… it’s possessing an inaccurate or erroneous concept of who God really is. A lot of people want to believe in God, they just don’t want to believe in the God of the Bible. Why? They are not impressed with the Deity most Christians have presented… either by tongue or deed.

All of our lives we attempt to explain what God is really like to those around us. This usually happens in a passive way. Let me explain. I was officiating the funeral of a young infant who died prematurely days after birth. The little infant had a heart issue. A lot of well meaning church friends came by to offer comfort to the hurting and troubled parents. On more than one occasion some well meaning Christian said something along these lines… “They were sorry about God taking their baby or God must have wanted or needed their child in heaven“… or some variation of that phrase. After so many people said this to these parents, it was left to me to explain why such a mean, vindictive God took their child. The truth was that God didn’t take their child from them. The child died of a heart deformity. The Lord didn’t give their child a deformity so He could take her in heaven.

So why do we say such things? One reason is we don’t know what to say in such situations. The best course of action to take is to say nothing… simply love on people. The other reason we say such things is because we have heard it uttered before from some other ne’er do well. Since God is responsible for everything from earthquakes to hurricanes, it must be His fault. It is much easier to blame God than to seek to understand the effect of sin upon the world. The truth is we live in a fallen world and bad things happen. It is not all God’s fault. My point is we give God a bad rap when we utter faulty theology in difficult circumstances. Yet, this is done everyday. More is caught than taught. When a sermon is later delivered about the love of God, most have difficulties in believing in God’s love because they only know of a God who kills little children, wipes out thousands of people with hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes.

Jesus said one of the reasons He came to earth was to reveal His Father to people. How Jesus responded to people’s needs and His actions to the hurting gives us our best description of God. Jesus Christ came to planet earth to show us exactly what God is like. In Luke 15 Jesus shares three parables to reveal how God searches for us like a shepherd searching for his lost lamb, like a woman for a coin from her dowry and a father waiting for his lost son to return home. It’s not enough for any of us to believe in God; we must understand the nature of God … the God Jesus came to introduce. Is this the type of God you believe in?

Blessings From God’s Incubator,

Pastor