Who Cares About Why?

"We are often more convinced of our unworthiness than we are of His worth. Our inability takes greater focus than does His ability." -Bill Johnson

   I've been full of myself the last few days. Not the prideful almost fun way but the whole, "I'm too messed up" kind of way. And I am too messed up, we all are, but God for some reason still loves us. Every part of mine and your painful pasts, every sin, every raw place, every unspeakable act; He has seen every part and He still loves us. That very thought confounds my brain. Then I read the statement above and I realized I've been wrong in my thought process.

   I am so worried about the why when I should be focused on the how. Instead of why would God love me, maybe I should wonder how can He still love me. How can a perfect God who cannot tolerate sin still love us who are sinful? The answer is simple, we sing it in worship, preach it in sermon's; but so often we struggle with it's sheer simplicity. God is God, Alpha and Omega, Jehovah-Nissi (my banner); He does it because He is God and He can! Song of Solomon 2:7 (KJV) He brought me to the banquet and His banner over me was love. God loves us because He IS love! For Him to deny love would be like Him to deny His own Godness; He can't do it. It is literally who He is that creates the how He does it.

   People do terrible things, I've done awful things; we all have. Moses murdered an Egyptian in cold blood; David sent a man off to the front lines hoping and knowing it would lead to his death. Mind you, this was a good man who had faithfully served David for years, he had committed no wrong. Jacob stole his own brother's birthright, Peter chopped a man's ear off, and Paul enjoyed watching Stephen's murder. No one can deny these were great men of God, but neither can we say they never committed horrible atrocities. But God used them in spite of their pasts and at times even their presents.

   Psalm 51:17 (NIV) My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Romans 8:1 (TPT), So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. What allowed these men to be so confident in their forgiveness? It most certainly wasn't their goodness or the good things they had done. I can only conclude that it was their unshakable belief that God could and would forgive them. The why was less important than the simple fact that He WOULD. He bound Himself to that promise by being our love-banner (Jehovah-Nissi). 1 Cor. 13:5b,7,8a, Love....keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

   If those are God's standards of love that He pledges to us who are under His banner, then I guess the how and the why are one. It's His love, radical, never-quitting love. Not the cutesy romantic movie love but the intense "I give my life to you and for you" love that's wonderful and terrifying all in one. It's this type of love that allowed Jesus to look to the murderer on the cross next to Him and say with utter confidence, "Today you will be with me in paradise." He has that same confidence when He sees our past and sometimes are our present and He says, "I love you, I always have and I always will."