But You Wouldn't Let Me

 God made all of us with a body, a soul, and a spirit. I believe our soul is our mind, our will, and our emotions. Because we have a will, we can decide what we are going to do and what we are not going to do. God made us this way because that is part of being made in His image. He wanted all people to have the choice of if they would love Him or not. Also, He wanted all people to be able to choose to worship Him and obey Him. Only then, are the love, the worship, and  the obedience all meaningful. We are not forced to do any of them.

Jesus made this truth very clear after He had His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and He was getting ready to be crucified and resurrected for our sins. As He looked upon the city He mourned. (Matthew 23:37) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God's messengers. How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let Me." They would not let Jesus help them, so He would not force them. I believe Jesus is mourning this way over many people today, too.

God reveals Himself to every person who is born into this world. (Romans 1:18-32) He does this through His creation, by showing us His anger against sin, and by just speaking to our hearts. However, most people reject His revelation, because they want to worship other things, and they want to do what they want to do, not what God wants them to do. When they make that decision, God pursues them still, but He allows them to go their own way and endure the negative consequences. We see this happening around us all of the time every day. This saddens the heart of God.

My prayer for you and for all of us is that we will listen to God as He draws us to believe in Jesus and to live by faith in Him all of our lives. If we will do that, God will take us under His wings to protect us from any eternal harm, and He will adopt us into His family, so we can live in a close, personal relationship with Him. All of this comes as a gift from God after we turn from doing things our way, and we put our trust in Jesus alone to forgive our sins, and surrender to Him as Lord of our life. Please, make that decision today, if you have never done that.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Matthew 24-28.