Just a Thought - August 2012

The following is an article I wrote for the Waimea Weeky Newspaper "Just a thought" column. It was printed during the last week of August.
God Bless,
Jon

Just a Thought

Wanganui does not want Stuart Murray Wilson living in their town; most of New Zealand doesn’t want him! So, what about God – does God love him?

God’s love extends to all people – there is not one person whom God does not love. In fact, God is in the business of reconciliation and restoration, of reconciling people back to Himself and back to each other. This reconciliation is a tremendous gift of love and forgiveness resulting from the actions of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. And therefore no one – including someone who has perpetrated despicable acts – is outside of the reach of God's love, and that includes Wilson. God's gift of love, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration are extended to him as to all people.

But love can’t be forced, it can’t be coerced. God offers the gift of love but if one does not accept that gift it is not actualised. For the gift of love to be complete the receiver of the gift needs to receive it, open it, use it. If I was to give a gift to someone, say a $20,000 pearl necklace (or for a bloke a powerful German made chainsaw), if the receiver never wore the necklace, never used the saw, it is a sign the gift is rejected, never truly received.

God offers love to all people and some decide to reject that love resulting in failed reconciliation with God and society. If a perpetrator has committed despicable acts and does not show remorse and genuine penitence, if they do not ask for forgiveness and admit they were wrong and ask for help so as to not commit the crime again – it is not that God does not love them but that they reject God’s love and forgiveness. And in turn they miss out on the benefits of God’s love and risk grieving the Holy Spirit while hardening their heart.

In the Bible there are stories of people who commit despicable acts. God hates those despicable actions. At one stage king David broke over half of the Ten Commandments in quick succession, including murder. Saint Paul in his younger days did his best to wipe out as many Christians as he could. When these two were confronted with the truth of their wrong actions, both of them were remorseful, they were penitent, they let their hearts become soft and teachable before God and society and they changed. They displayed signs of rehabilitation and eventually were reconciled to society and God.

God’s love extends to all people. The question for us is do we receive God’s gift of love, or do we reject it? I pray and hope we all have hearts that are soft and receptive to God’s reconciling and life giving love.