Pathways to Being Willing

When you forgive somebody, is it alright to forgive them simply because you fear how God will treat you if you don’t forgive them? The answer seems obvious, but if you really don’t feel like forgiving, but know it is required of you because scripture makes it clear that you are obligated to forgive, what other motivation is there to extend forgiveness other than to fear what may happen to you otherwise?

(extracted from common questions found online)

If God really exists and is a loving and compassionate god, why doesn’t He do something about all the suffering and evil in the world? If He is loving and merciful why does He allow such horrible events as hurricanes, earthquakes, and famine? Why does God permit suffering and evil to exist? If god genuinely loves us, why does he allow disaster? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why does God let catastrophes take place in the world?
 

In the Old Testament, God is this super angry, genocidal maniac. In the New Testament, according to Jesus, God is this cuddly teddy bear that loves everyone… until you get to the Book of Revelations where he whigs out again. Why does God’s behavior vary so much? Is God a schizophrenic? Should he be in counseling?

I recently ran across  a  20/20 segment where a group of people were spreading the word that God hates…almost everything. Although life can sometimes make this statement appear as though it may be true, this is not so.

To this group that expresses extreme views, and to anyone who believes in these views, although not expressing them as loudly, I send to you the eternal love and peace of God.

Many of the things I have written are focused around helping to see a clearer and more realistic view of who God is. Some have determined that God is the angry and murdering God as often depicted within the Bible, even though his reported actions totally disagree with how Jesus taught us to behave. This viewpoint is fine, because, since this is a temporary error in how we see God,  it will fade as truth is eventually invited in. At some point in time, we all saw God this way and that was why Jesus came and expressed a different way of being.

Jesus talked about being forgiving, loving, peaceful, caring and considerate, because these are the true attributes of our Father. Anything that disagrees with these points of view, does not originate from the peace and love of God and can only originate from our own fear, confusion and anger.

When you become louder and more forceful, you will find that many will disagree with you and will fight against you, and this you might use to vindicate that your mission is valid, since the world appears to oppose you, but this is not so. Using force to express any idea, will result in force being returned. Forcing your ideas simply proves that you are not trusting God to heal the problem and that you are not at peace, and therefore, your thoughts and actions are not inspired by God.

God is our creator and is not so weak that he needs us to force people to change. When Jesus taught, his love and genuine desire to be helpful, drew people to him… and we are still drawn to his words of forgiveness and love. Nothing that truly originated from Jesus was forced upon anyone, but was freely shared…to be accepted or not, with the only repercussion being how long you chose to distance yourself from God.

God has no timescale since time does not exist in eternity, so it does not matter how long you take to fully open your mind to accepting God as being truly loving of all. If it does not happen in this lifetime, you will go on to whatever the next existence may be, but you are not lost and are never rejected by God. Everyone eventually makes it home.

There is nothing to fear and no need to worry about what anyone has done, is doing or will do. In time, they will see these things differently and will make better choices and step closer to God.

We all make it home, so when you see someone who appears to be taking the ‘long way’, you can help them by being kind, being loving, being forgiving and knowing they are loved and not lost. Simply seeing them as being unconditionally loved by God, helps them in ways we can not yet fathom. Trust in God’s love for them and know that the perfect circumstances will come into their lives, that will help them make other choices. Know they will make it home.

The origin of peace is in knowing there is nothing to fear. If we all make it home, but it’s just a matter of how long we choose to take to get there, there is nothing to fear. If you wish to be a part of shortening the time of our journey back to our Father, motivate yourself through compassion and forgiveness of all those around you and share what you feel is true, but never require or demand any specific response. Know that God is working with them, and often, you are simply planting seeds.

You teach by being. Be peaceful and be loving and you will be teaching others about our loving and peaceful Father, without having to say a single word.