Friend, Not Foe
So many people are of the opinion that because God is an infinite being He is beyond our human comprehension. They have the notion He is someone distant, far removed from us, who may be appealed to only in great extremity across spans of space.
The truth is just the opposite. He is our Father, our Friend, and can be our Companion on the path of life. Such an association becomes the most cherished relationship in the world. But it can only become such if we begin to understand God's character and the wondrous ways in which He deals with us . . .
Most human beings have despised and rejected God simply because they never grasped who He was and what He was like. They saw Him as a foe, not a friend.
This explains why Christ called out in profound pathos - while the iron spikes tore through His hands and His feet - "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" [Luke 23:34]. It was the intense heart-cry of our compassionate, caring God giving us Himself, sharing with us His own life, in a superb act of selfless self-sacrifice.
This caliber of divine love eludes us mortals. We are, for the most part, so selfish, so self-centered, so self-preoccupied, we recoil from those spike-torn hands extended to us in mercy, compassion and deep longing. We simply refuse to believe anyone truly can care for us with such pure motives.
Yes, across the terrible, tortured, tragic centuries of our human history mankind has rejected God. They have assumed always that like themselves He was at heart a tyrant, a stern and unjust judge, a formidable potentate to be feared. All because they seldom understood Him. They knew nothing of Him in intimate, firsthand communion. - (Author: W. Phillip Keller)
I was in the book of Galatians when I came across this story. The timing of this story and how it applies to my life amazes me. Even though I've been pursuing the Lord for the past ten years now, I have not really considered Him my friend until the past year or so. I have spent so much time trying to please Him and gain His favor that I have lost sight of my relationship with Him. He is my Father, and I am His son. He loves me just the way I am and just longs for me to be with Him. He calls me Friend.
The truth is just the opposite. He is our Father, our Friend, and can be our Companion on the path of life. Such an association becomes the most cherished relationship in the world. But it can only become such if we begin to understand God's character and the wondrous ways in which He deals with us . . .
Most human beings have despised and rejected God simply because they never grasped who He was and what He was like. They saw Him as a foe, not a friend.
This explains why Christ called out in profound pathos - while the iron spikes tore through His hands and His feet - "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" [Luke 23:34]. It was the intense heart-cry of our compassionate, caring God giving us Himself, sharing with us His own life, in a superb act of selfless self-sacrifice.
This caliber of divine love eludes us mortals. We are, for the most part, so selfish, so self-centered, so self-preoccupied, we recoil from those spike-torn hands extended to us in mercy, compassion and deep longing. We simply refuse to believe anyone truly can care for us with such pure motives.
Yes, across the terrible, tortured, tragic centuries of our human history mankind has rejected God. They have assumed always that like themselves He was at heart a tyrant, a stern and unjust judge, a formidable potentate to be feared. All because they seldom understood Him. They knew nothing of Him in intimate, firsthand communion. - (Author: W. Phillip Keller)
I was in the book of Galatians when I came across this story. The timing of this story and how it applies to my life amazes me. Even though I've been pursuing the Lord for the past ten years now, I have not really considered Him my friend until the past year or so. I have spent so much time trying to please Him and gain His favor that I have lost sight of my relationship with Him. He is my Father, and I am His son. He loves me just the way I am and just longs for me to be with Him. He calls me Friend.
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