Ultimate Sacrifice

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins." --- Isaiah 43:25

In my own spiritual walk I often come across people who are militant towards God. Their line of argument is they are blinded to God's love by the evil that is so prevalent in our world. If you are openly seeking the Lord in your life, you probably have crossed paths with these type of people also. We know that "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing," so it should come as no surprise to us when we encounter them, but at the same time it troubles me when I do. After you hear all of their arguments, at the end of the day, when you get all the way down to the real issue, the b.l.t. (bottom line theology) is these people simply DO NOT WANT to submit to the authority of a sovereign God. In their way of thinking (their world view), the "risk versus reward" of submitting their lives to God is not worth losing their love of self. The "evil in the world" is only a result of the rejection of God and the insistence on loving self.

Today's scripture reference is a very special verse to me. This verse not only declares that God wipes out our transgressions as a result of Christ's work on the cross, but it also tells us that He did it FOR HIS OWN SAKE. Because of God's love for us, he made the decision to make the ultimate sacrifice in order that we would have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. He did not do it based on anything we are, in fact He could not have done it based on who we are. The only way for God's plan of salvation for man to be perfect was for Him to base it solely on who He is. God deals with the salvation of man in absolute terms, entirely dependent upon His grace, and we can do one of two things with it; accept it or reject it.

Now I am more of a "Spaceballs" guy than I am "Star Wars," but I went to see the new "Star Wars" movie last night with some friends from CrossWord and I told them I would work the movie into today's devotion. I don't know if George Lucas intended to write it this way, but there are hundreds of spiritual comparisons that can be drawn from the movie. Young Anakin is a great example of what we are talking about today. He is the chosen one and the prophecy gives him guaranteed victory in life. Yet because of his love of self, his attachment to worldy things that feed his self gratification, his fear of not being able to control all circumstances relating to self, he blinds himself to the truth and makes the decision to join "the dark side" of the force. The only problem is after joining the dark side, things don't work out the way he thought they would have, and he grows increasingly bitter. The exact same thing that happens to those who subscribe to the "evil in the world" theory. They do everything they can to satisfy self, and it is never actually as satisfying as they thought it would be. Then they blame God and follow that line of reasoning all the way until they get to the point of an "unloving God" who "allows evil to exist." Its a vicious cycle.

Really the only thing we can do when we encounter these type of people is to represent Christ to them pray for them. Chances are you will not be able to debate them because they are so caught up in the cycle. They can't understand that only a loving God would present an avenue for us to be saved, and that he does it BECAUSE HE IS LOVE (1 Jn. 4:8). Because God is love, He had to present us with a way of salvation. Evil is only a product of the rejection of God's love.