What god would do that?

If you’ve ever run into argumentative people who insist that the Bible was written by a bunch of men trying to invent a religion like all the other religions, consider this. If the God of the Bible was an invention of flawed, small-minded humans trying their hardest to sound profound and grandiose, they would never have come up with the stories and principles that we have in this ancient book. 

Not one of the sixty-six books of our Bible contradict each other, in fact the exact same Spirit shines through every book to perfection, even though they were all written over a span of millennia. Who could fake something like that? 

One of many aspects that sets apart our God as being unique from all others, is that He has always wanted a close and loving relationship with His creation. He is a Father, and has always wanted to interact with us as a Father. Where other religions speak of their gods upon their lofty thrones as being powerful or even merciful, none desire an intimate relationship of love and joy with their lowly servants. Some religions may have gods or goddesses of love, but have more to do with sexual love, and are incapable of destroying sin and evil.   

Taking that even further, our Bible reveals a God who has purposefully allowed Himself to go through humiliation and be put in weak positions, just to win our love for Him. Just think:  God gave Adam and Eve the choice to obey Him, and when they didn’t, He didn’t strike them dead but had a plan of salvation in mind way back in the garden. He chose to bless Abraham and his descendants, but they kept disobeying and worshipping other gods to the point that He had to destroy the Temple built just for His honor in order to turn their hearts back to Him. He sent God the Son, the Almighty Creator of the universe, to be born to a poor couple forced to bear the unfair stigma of immorality as Mary was already pregnant when they married. He was born in a stable, He was raised in the backwater town of Nazareth, hated by the Jewish leaders, tortured and killed as a criminal, hung on a tree as a curse, and only had a bunch of illiterate fishermen and misfits to carry on His teachings.  

What God would do that? Not one single religion with their great and mighty gods would make such humiliating claims. Only the true God who is higher and greater and deeper and wider than anything we could imagine or think, reveals Himself in such an unexpected and perfect way. Through His acts of weakness, His name is now lifted higher above all powers and all things. No human being would be able to come up with a concept so contrary to human nature.

And all of that done because He loves us with an intensity we’ll only understand when we see Him. He’s giving you His authority to overcome all evil right now. He’s giving you his Holy Spirit to be a constant counselor to live inside of you—all you have to do is want it! He has bent over backwards to bring us, the stubborn and selfish creation that we are, into the safety and love of His Kingdom when we don’t deserve any of it. Whoever treats this amazing gift of grace as worthless, as something that can be put off till later, as an annoyance, are letting a treasure slip through their fingers. Take this gift and run with it. Go as far as you can to serve this risen Savior with all you’ve got in this life, because it’s the only response worthy of the gift.  

Consider how much love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.  (1 John 3:1-3 MEV)