Sacred Cows #2

The next sacred cow to hit the slaughtering block is this:  God loves us just the way we are.  Right from the start I need to state absolutely that God loves all people no matter how good or bad (by human standards) they may be.  In one of the most well-known verses of scripture Jesus himself said "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not die."  The problem with this statement is that by itself it does not say enough about the relationship between God and humanity, between God and the world. 

To state without clarification simply that God loves all of us just as we are has enormous dangerous implications.  God does love each of us as we are, but is not content that we remain that way.  God loves the world as it is, but does that mean that he loves the way the world is right now, though it is with sin, evil, wars, hatred, injustice and the like.  The answer is "of course not."  God's plan for us is remake us in Jesus image, and by extension to remake the world.  The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the world are antithetical.  In one, the meek inherit the earth, in the other they are crushed.  In one the merciful receive mercy, in the other they are exploited.  To deny this is to say that God loved Hitler, Stalin, Attila, or any of dozens of madmen just as they were, and that he was happy with the way they were. 

Think of what is gets cut out with the simple unqualified statement that God loves us just as we are.  With it go any notion of original sin, confession, repentance.  The Biblical faith is that we are indeed sinful and left lost left to ourselves.  The Biblical faith is that there is much that is wrong with the world, much that should be resisted with every fiber of our beings.  The Biblical faith is that God loves us as we are, but isn't content that we remain that way.

My friends, God loves us because he is love in himself.  God's love for us is not rooted in any worthiness we have, but simply in his goodness.  God loves us inspite of who and what we are and do.  In this simple fact is enormous comfort.  When we feel ourselves broken, we know that the almight loves us inspite of that.  When we fall astray he loves us despite that.  Inspite of all that is wrong with us God hated the sin and evil of the world so much that he sent his Son to deal with it.

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