Picture a Garden. With two people who were basking in a paradise that their Designer placed them in. He had given them life, and breath, and food so plenteous that they could never go without. There was only one tree that they were not supposed to eat from. He walked with them, delighted in allowing them to care for the Garden, and even allowed them to give names to everything around them.
One day a deceiver came and convinced them to eat of the one tree that was forbidden. With his silvery tongue, he caused them to believe that not being allowed to eat of the one tree was too much and that their Designer was being stingy, too strict and selfish. In that moment of Doubt, he caused all of the goodness that they had known to begin to fall away. As their vision changed and darkness crept in, the Designer removed them from the Garden, never to return in their lifetime.
As he did on that day long ago, the deceiver comes to you and me, and whispers that we are the best masters of our own fate. That the Designer messed up, that He loves not, and holds back everything that should be ours. That He does not want to share all that He has….
What if Satan’s greatest tactic is to convince us all that the Love of God is not real, that it is not True? What if he makes his point by destroying our relationships with each other? Causes us to believe that there is no Designer, that there is no such thing as Love? From our earliest memories, he does his best to highlight unlovable moments. Moments when we believed within that we were not loved. From our parents and siblings, to our early childhood friendships, he caused brokenness and distrust. A broken promise here, a harsh word there, or much worse for some, not to mention the many abuses children face and go through.
As we get older, our high school experiences and fair-weather friendships batter us even more, and we learn to cope in ways that may not be helpful. As we begin to mature, begin to date, and move forward towards marriage, he is still there hoping to dash all our hopes, dreams, and beliefs in True Love. If he can convince us that God can’t or won’t love us, or that we are too far gone for God to still love us, then he has won. He has done what he always purposed in his heart to do- to dethrone God. At least in the lives of individuals who believe his lies. If he can convince us that we are too cold-hearted and don’t need Love, or that we cannot receive Love, then we will go through life calloused and have no concern for others, or give thought when we hurt others. For the many who have been hurt deeply and no longer believe in Love, there is only hurt and pain. Any attempts to Love again end in the death of the love of the ones who hope to believe in it again.
If Love never came to rescue those who can’t believe in it; then those lives with locked rooms filled with the decaying artifacts from when they once believed in Love, would have no hope at all. They would only surround themselves with the moments and memories that have now gathered dust and instead of happiness, would only remember the hurt and pain of love unrequited and long-forgotten. We all play the part of jilted lover and project onto God this sense that, He too, has done us wrong. But, in fact, it is others in our life that have let us down, disappointed us, and hurt us—either by promises not kept or by outright rejection. If Satan convinces us that God is not Good and that He is not Love, then we will believe Him to be just another in a long line of those that said that they loved us, while proving otherwise by their actions.
Were we not to believe the Truth, that God Loves us all, then we could convince ourselves that there are some who don’t deserve Love, and that we could withhold it from them. We could play God, and use a predetermined list from which we could cross people off and deem them unworthy. Whether they had committed “Greater Sins” or not performed well on our scorecard, we could easily withhold our love and our definition of it from them. We could rule and reign this way for years, being kings and queens and shutting out opportunities to Love by passing judgement and tossing those who are undeserving into the prisons of our minds.
But Grace came through and did demonstrate His Love towards us, by laying down His Own Life, willingly dying for Love. A Love that He wants the world to know about, and through believing agents, this Good News can be spread. Rather than allowing His opponent to convince everyone that there is no such thing as Love, He fought for us by sacrificing His only child, turning Him over to those who could not believe. As demons danced, Love began His triumphant final battle, winning by losing His Life in the Ultimate Act of Love. In death, Love Wins because He has done the unthinkable. A surprising attack, a strategy not thought of by His enemy- winning by losing. Allowing His enemy to gloat for three days, He secures His victory through His scars, His death, and stands once again full of Life, Love has Risen! A stone rolled away, Grace shouts, “I Am King, for I am crowned by Love”.
The enemy searches for a new strategy to convince a dying world that there is no such thing as Love, a made-up fairy tale. Yet the echoes of Love’s victory call to the hearts of all, and we all yearn for this Love that is too good to be true. But it is so good, because it is True. Love has come. He has won. There is no need to Doubt.
One day a deceiver came and convinced them to eat of the one tree that was forbidden. With his silvery tongue, he caused them to believe that not being allowed to eat of the one tree was too much and that their Designer was being stingy, too strict and selfish. In that moment of Doubt, he caused all of the goodness that they had known to begin to fall away. As their vision changed and darkness crept in, the Designer removed them from the Garden, never to return in their lifetime.
As he did on that day long ago, the deceiver comes to you and me, and whispers that we are the best masters of our own fate. That the Designer messed up, that He loves not, and holds back everything that should be ours. That He does not want to share all that He has….
What if Satan’s greatest tactic is to convince us all that the Love of God is not real, that it is not True? What if he makes his point by destroying our relationships with each other? Causes us to believe that there is no Designer, that there is no such thing as Love? From our earliest memories, he does his best to highlight unlovable moments. Moments when we believed within that we were not loved. From our parents and siblings, to our early childhood friendships, he caused brokenness and distrust. A broken promise here, a harsh word there, or much worse for some, not to mention the many abuses children face and go through.
As we get older, our high school experiences and fair-weather friendships batter us even more, and we learn to cope in ways that may not be helpful. As we begin to mature, begin to date, and move forward towards marriage, he is still there hoping to dash all our hopes, dreams, and beliefs in True Love. If he can convince us that God can’t or won’t love us, or that we are too far gone for God to still love us, then he has won. He has done what he always purposed in his heart to do- to dethrone God. At least in the lives of individuals who believe his lies. If he can convince us that we are too cold-hearted and don’t need Love, or that we cannot receive Love, then we will go through life calloused and have no concern for others, or give thought when we hurt others. For the many who have been hurt deeply and no longer believe in Love, there is only hurt and pain. Any attempts to Love again end in the death of the love of the ones who hope to believe in it again.
If Love never came to rescue those who can’t believe in it; then those lives with locked rooms filled with the decaying artifacts from when they once believed in Love, would have no hope at all. They would only surround themselves with the moments and memories that have now gathered dust and instead of happiness, would only remember the hurt and pain of love unrequited and long-forgotten. We all play the part of jilted lover and project onto God this sense that, He too, has done us wrong. But, in fact, it is others in our life that have let us down, disappointed us, and hurt us—either by promises not kept or by outright rejection. If Satan convinces us that God is not Good and that He is not Love, then we will believe Him to be just another in a long line of those that said that they loved us, while proving otherwise by their actions.
Were we not to believe the Truth, that God Loves us all, then we could convince ourselves that there are some who don’t deserve Love, and that we could withhold it from them. We could play God, and use a predetermined list from which we could cross people off and deem them unworthy. Whether they had committed “Greater Sins” or not performed well on our scorecard, we could easily withhold our love and our definition of it from them. We could rule and reign this way for years, being kings and queens and shutting out opportunities to Love by passing judgement and tossing those who are undeserving into the prisons of our minds.
But Grace came through and did demonstrate His Love towards us, by laying down His Own Life, willingly dying for Love. A Love that He wants the world to know about, and through believing agents, this Good News can be spread. Rather than allowing His opponent to convince everyone that there is no such thing as Love, He fought for us by sacrificing His only child, turning Him over to those who could not believe. As demons danced, Love began His triumphant final battle, winning by losing His Life in the Ultimate Act of Love. In death, Love Wins because He has done the unthinkable. A surprising attack, a strategy not thought of by His enemy- winning by losing. Allowing His enemy to gloat for three days, He secures His victory through His scars, His death, and stands once again full of Life, Love has Risen! A stone rolled away, Grace shouts, “I Am King, for I am crowned by Love”.
The enemy searches for a new strategy to convince a dying world that there is no such thing as Love, a made-up fairy tale. Yet the echoes of Love’s victory call to the hearts of all, and we all yearn for this Love that is too good to be true. But it is so good, because it is True. Love has come. He has won. There is no need to Doubt.
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