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How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. - Psalm 36:7
Nothing warms the heart of parents more than to hear their children or grandchildren voluntarily say, "I love you." And God wants the same thing from us. God wants us to voluntarily love Him because we choose to, not because we have to.
We need to understand that God did not create evil, but He did create us with the ability to choose. And a lot of the things we call evil in this world are brought on by human beings who make wrong choices because they disregard what God says.
When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in a veritable paradise and gave them the ability to choose, that special quality God gives us where we can decide to do what is right or wrong. It is amazing to me that as Adam and Eve were in Eden with presumably hundreds, maybe thousands of trees to choose from, we find them hanging around the one tree that God told them was off-limits (see Genesis 3).
That is so like me-and you. If you don't believe me, then try it out on some kids. Just say, "Whatever you do, don't go into that room." The moment you turn away, you know exactly where they will be.
So we can choose to love God, or we can choose not to love God. He has given us that choice. If you were to say to your child, "Say you love me, or I will throw you out and never give you another meal again," what kind of love would that be? Or if you were to buy a doll with a computer chip that is programmed to say, "I love you" at the touch of a button, how fulfilling would it be to hear those words?
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God wants us to love Him because we choose to.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000
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