Did you know?

Thursday I went up to San Diego and spoke at the Young Adults Group from one of the local churches. I spoke about God's goodness in the light of the Messiah as highlighted in Isaiah 53 and Romans 8:32,34. At the end of the night, when we were hanging out, I spoke to a lot of the people and heard how God had encoureged them through the Word and even confirmed things to them. I prayed with some of them. I always love to hear how God is glorifying Himself in the lives of other people.

Later on the night as I meditated even more about the goodness of God, the Word that He had given for the night, and really just how much He loves us- clearly portraid in the cross, I thought about why He did it. I know through Scriptures that He has done it to glorify Himself but what I hadn't realize, and what came like a flashing lightning in my spirit, clarifying every thought is that God CHOSE to glorify Himself through loving us.

You see, sometimes when we say God's love glorifies His name we think (deep down) that God is being self-centered; that really the only reason why He loves us is so He can get something out of it. We think He didn't really have an option, He must glorify Himself. But the truth is God never had to love us to start with. Think about it. Think all the way back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned. God had two options:

Option 1. He could glorify Himself by wiping them two off the planet, sending them to hell... He would have been glorified because He would have done a righteous thing, He IS a holy God who cannot tolarate sin and MUST as a righteous Judge punish it.

Option 2. He could sacrifice Himself. Stand in the gap and suffer excruciating, unimanigable pain... pain that us as human beings could never survive... He could give Himself to experience all the punishment that was RIGHTLY ours SO THAT we could experience life with Him eternally. He could give it all so that we could have it all forever, we that deserved nothing.

Both of this would have given glory to God and exalted Him to the highest. God didn't really gain anything more whether He had gone with either option. He would had still been God, beautiful and mighty, holy and righteous, good and just, Creator of all things.

BUT

How interesting that God chose the thing that would benefit us the most. That He would choose to glorify Himself in a way that not only declared Him as Almighty God, King of kings and Lord of lords but that would also be advantageous for us. Can you wrap your mind around that? That God chose the road that made Him suffer the most and offered YOU the opportunity to get something out of it. And not just SOME-thing but EVERY-thing....

Conclusion: He really DOES CARE.

Don't doubt Him. Walk confidently and be strengthen in the knowledge that God is for you not against you. Be bold in working out your own salvation knowing that God's desire is for you to have life.

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32

Have blessed day today :)