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By Charles Slagle
I was just thinking of a few Scriptures about Love (who is God) to encourage any despairing hearts with the glad tidings of free will, I.E. You can count on Unfailing Holy Love---IF---He can count on YOU.For your worshipful and joyous meditation, let us consider and give thanks for the liberating truths that follow---
(1) I Cor.13:8 "Love never fails." That is to say unless YOU fail. Unfailing Love is actually for successes, not failures.(2) I Jn.3:18 "Let us love not in word only, but in deeds and reality." Yes, it is true. YOU must love with action and reality. However, not so with Unfailing Holy Love who is God. He reserves the right to love with YOU with only sugary sentimentality and let YOU agonize in hell forever unless YOU love HIM with unfailing love. Aren't you glad He has given you a free will, and not made you into a robot?
(3) Rom.13:10 "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore Love is the fulfillment of the law." Actually, The Second Person of Triune Unfailing Love will NEVER fulfill the law and the prophets, but He certainly expects YOU to do so! For he has "foreordained" from eternity past to call billions of his own offspring into existence IN THE CALCULATED AND CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE that they, through a series of unwise choices, they will agonize for all eternity.
(4) Matt. 5:44, 48 "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you...THEREFORE you shall be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Actually, these are nice words to encourage you to be MORE perfect than your heavenly Father. For all the while the Lord was speaking these words, your heavenly Father was saying to billions of his enemies who had departed this life unconverted and landed in a raging hell "Sorry, it's all over now. Alas! I can do nothing for you but to honor the choices your free will made in your earthly existence."
(5) Matt. 7:12 "THEREFORE whatever you want men to do to you, do also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets." Yet again, I would urge you dear reader, not to OVERLY LITERALIZE the "therefore" that occurs in this verse. Christ was only linking this truth to the previous truth in the verse just before it (about our Good Father being as decent as an earthly father) to make Him sound nice. The REAL truth is that YOU must obey verse 12 while your All-Wise heavenly Father reserves the right---NOT---to love his little neighbors as He loves Himself. But of course, this is for your own good, is it not? Would you be happy as a mindless robot?
_____________________________May our Father of tender mercies and all compassion, lift your weak and despairing heart through these edifying truths of the free will glad tidings today. Remember---
You can ALWAYS count on Him---IF---He can count on YOU!
Joy, joy, joy!
CharlieP.S. For those who don't know me--yes--I'm being sarcastic. The True God of Christianity's love IS unconditional. But traditional Christianity's god obviously is NOT. Maybe it's time to drop some traditions and exchange them.