Thursday, November 19, 2009

How are we Valuable?

Hi Folks

Over this past summer, we changed our telephone and internet carrier to a local company who could also save us a considerable amount of money.

The company we jilted (or at least that seems to be how they see it) has sent lovely cards telling me how much they miss me. We have also been getting phone calls.

I received another one today. As soon as the caller got to "We have a special offer..." I cut him off and told him I was not interested. He asked me why.

I told him that if they valued my patronage so much, they should have given me these fabulous offers while I was still their customer. He actually admitted I had a point. No kidding.

It is not like that with God.

God loves all His creation. He loves us more than we can imagine. We are made, after all, in His image and likeness. He also loves us enough to let us go, if that is what we choose. Look what happened to the Angels who proclaimed that they would not serve. They went to Hell.

Jesus shows us this in the Gospel of John. When He proclaimed that it was necessary to eat His flesh and drink His blood, many of his followers said that He was speaking harshly and that they would no longer follow Him. Jesus let them go.

We can also be confident that if we wish to repent, while we are alive, and come back to God, He will take us back. We see this expressed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke.

In the latter case, we are told that a party was held to celebrate the return of the lost son. Would this actually make up for what is lost during our time without God's grace?

I am fairly certain that God longs for us, if we choose to be away from him. Parents long for children. The woman who loses the gold coin, again in the Gospel of Luke, turns the house upside down until she finds it. So does the shepherd search for the lost sheep.

God will not usually hound us though. Or perhaps He IS hounding us...but sin clouds our perceptions and we do not hear. Hmmm.

I told the telephone company to leave us alone. I cannot imagine that I would want to do that to God...ever. But if I did, I think He would honour my bad choice and leave me to my own devices.

Fortunately, when I changed phone companies, most of the devices stayed exactly the same.

God Bless