Let’s Pretend

02.16.13

Leviticus 26.12-13 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (ESV)

Let’s pretend: You are a Perfect Supreme being. You perfectly design and build a world fit for creatures to live upon and You invite them to know You. Your life is not their life and yet Your invitation is: come and know My life. These creatures are remarkably intelligent and capable of extraordinary potential. And yet their lives are missing a key ingredient and You invite them to partake so that they may become perfect as You are perfect. Let’s pretend.

Your whole goal is to give Your creatures all of Yourself. All You’ve ever wanted from these brilliant creatures is to be their Friend. And so Your invitation is simply: I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk on your own two feet.

But, through no fault of your own, Your creatures are willfully retarded. They hear Your promises and see Your power and goodness and reject Your invitation because they are willfully retarded. They would rather live in filth and hurt than accept Your invitation to come clean and be healed. They are truly capable of marvelously great things and yet they settle for mediocre and substandard. They choose their own way and reject Yours. Let’s pretend. What would you do? What would you say?

All God has ever wanted to do is to be in our space: yours and mine. All God has ever wanted to do is to convince us that He is lovable and worthy. All God has ever wanted to do is be with us and be our Friend. He thinks we’re terrific. We’re not so convinced; we’re willfully retarded.

Someone might say: Impossible! There’s no way to get all those people to pull their heads out of their behinds and live together with God. That someone doesn’t know the power of the love of God. That person doesn’t know the intention of God. That person doesn’t understand the patience of God. That person doesn’t know the Love of God.

And then we look at sorry, miserable mankind: beautiful creatures capable of so much and accomplishing so little, and we wonder: God, are You foolish? What did You ever think would happen? And His answer: I will overcome them with My love. I will win their hearts over with my goodness. I will walk among them, and be their God, and they shall be My people.

Love wins. Love wins for those who are foolish enough to believe that God was foolish enough to do all of this and make the proclamation: I will walk among you and be your God and you will be My people. Life by committee loses and those who will to live that way are losers. Life with God is life with love and love wins – even with foolish and selfish creatures who are willfully retarded and set upon having their own way.

Thank You God, for saving my soul. Thank You God, for making me whole. Thank You God for giving to me: Your great salvation so full and free.