Romans 2.4 4 Or do
you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not
realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (NIV)
Why doesn’t God just whup
the crap out of us and make us all come into line? Why does He have to be kind
and forbearing and patient? Why can’t He just be the God we all want Him to be:
my God can kick the crap out of your god
after He’s done with me?
Well, He doesn’t have
to be kind – He just is. He doesn’t have
to be patient but His patience is pointed toward who we can become, not who we
are. It doesn’t take too much convincing to get us to believe that humans are
the strangest creatures. We are fickle and unreliable. We lie, we cheat; we
steal. We pretend. We play at life and don’t take it too seriously. We accept
all of God’s providence and then complain about how He administers it. We’re
greedy, selfish, and truly worthy of being smacked around. And yet, God puts up
with us. Kindly, gently, patiently.
God doesn’t seem to be into cowering (ours, not His; He
doesn’t cower). God seems to understand just how wretched and needy we are and He
seems to want to come to our rescue, not our demise. The Bible says, Do I take any pleasure in the death of the
wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn
from their ways and live?
Say to them, ‘As
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn
from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 18:23; Ezekiel
33:11) God is into life, not death.
And Peter told us, The
Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead
he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance. (2 Peter 3.9) So why does everyone have to blame God for being
such a meany? Sadly, it is because if we can find anything to accuse God of, we’ll
do it – that’s just how wicked and adolescent our hearts are. Repentance is a
dirty word to even the most foul individual on the planet – it is an affront to
human self-sufficiency. God! Who needs
God!? (You do my friend…you do.)
God’s kindness is misunderstood because we believe we are
entitled to a happy life. A friend of mine said this: “When you think you deserve something specific to happen, you are
setting yourself up for the inability to embrace what actually happens.”*
He then went on to say, “You will be
happier and much closer to the truth, to the moment, and to God—when you
realize you are not in control of your life.”* Too many of us cannot accept
our lack of control over what happens to us; and we cannot accept that what
happens to us is God’s kindness.
Lord, for too many years I thought You were out to get me
and club me a good one. How wrong I was for entertaining such thought. I
realize now just how kind You’ve been, and how focused You are on my future,
not my past. Help me to live this day knowing that whatever happens, You are
fully at work in my life; and You are graciously making me into the man You’ve
always intended for me to be. You are kind. You are patient. You accept me. And
You put up with me. Thank You. Amen.
*Jim Stephens
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