Thursday, October 13, 2005

Opposites

We sometimes forget just the point of salvation. We're so concerned with justification and salvation that we don't have room for Love. The main theme of the whole Bible is Love, not God's justice, predestined, or power. In fact the Bible seems to show a God who has let his people almost go as far away from his wants and desires as possible. And for some reason we focus on what the Bible doesn't focus on.

Now don't get me wrong, God is just, God is in control of the world, and God is never in a bind to need more power (Think Tim Allen). But the message of the Bible is none of these at all! The message of the prophets in the Old Testament is one of a God who wants his people to stop rebelling against them. His Law when researched has multiple reasons behind all those indebted rules. This is not a petty annoying God, but one that wants for His people to pursue him.

By not focusing on the Love of God we struggle explaining sin. We have these indepth charts and diagrams on which actions are sins and sometimes there is no way of understanding any common dominator. This to many people is confusing....I'm one in that group! How can you say it's a sin to drink, but not a sin to drink like 25 Mt. Dews, when both effect you.

I have been thinking about Love, if God wants us to Love, what's it's opposite? 'Cause that'd be what sin is right? It only makes sense to me that this is the case. So think for a second, what is the opposite of Love?........What do you think? I know probably the first thought was hate, while it's a good thought, I don't think that this is the most basic component for this discussion. What is deeper than hate? Pride and selfishness is my thought.

Mull that one over for a while, how does that feel for you? Can selfishness and pride really be the opposite of Love? If that is the case, is selfishness and pride the root of sin? How about that?
Jesus' break down of the law was Love God and Love your neighbor, so the whatever the opposite of Love is must be what Jesus doesn't want us to do....maybe we can understand that as sin.

Think About It....

2 comments:

Tim said...

Just a thought ... wasn't Jesus command to:
1.Love God
2.Love neighbor
and
3.Love self

I agree that selfishness is basically the root of sin. (I believe the root of sin is actually the false self ... but that's a whole other story).

dan said...

Notice that self is the last thing that God tells us to love. Plus if you only love yourself and you don't love God and others first then you're not following this concept.