God is Willing; Are You Willing?

 God has given each of us a free will. This means we can choose to do what we are going to do in life. We can choose God's way, or we can choose our own way. God will not violate our free will. He loves us dearly, and He wants us to love Him back, but if He forced us to love Him, it would not be meaningful love. Therefore, He had to create us with free will to have a close relationship with us. Jesus showed us this truth as He lamented over Jerusalem before His death. (Matthew 23:37) Jesus cried out, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." I wonder if we are willing to allow Jesus to gather us to Himself in love?

God loves us unconditionally and completely. He loves us even when we are in sin. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He does not require us to live a perfect life for Him to love us and receive us. Jesus is only looking to see if we are willing to come to Him, abide under His wings, and follow Him as a chick follows his mother. If we are willing to turn from our ways and submit to Him, He will care for us beyond anything we can imagine or anything we could ever do for ourselves. I pray that we will all see that we have this choice, and we will freely run to Jesus' open arms, so we will be saved from our sins and be safe from anything Satan or this world might throw at us.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Matthew 24-26.