The Source of Life

A common response to Christianity from those who oppose it is, “how could a loving God punish people because they choose not to follow Him… how is this fair?“. Well, their sentiment is certainly understandable. After all, should you really be penalised for simply not wanting to follow someone? It seems petty, and it would be petty, if it were true. However, it is far from the truth.

You see, the outcomes of choosing to follow or not to follow God are simply a matter of cause and effect. God is life, the very source of life; through Him, everything was made. He also gave us all free will to choose Him or not, because loving someone is always a choice. But, since He is the source of life, when you choose to reject Him, you are effectively choosing to be cut off from the source.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:1-4 (ESV)

By way of a simple analogy, let’s think of a phone. It functions for an amount of time after being charged, but if you don’t plug it back to the power source to recharge… it will die. Similarly, to be away from the Creator and live a life devoid of His presence is to be separated from your source, and naturally you would feel the effects of that.

Now, the good news is that, although our nature as fallen humans is to reject God, He is abundant in mercy and compassion. Being the very epitome of a good shepherd, He always wants to rescue the lost sheep because His desire is that none should perish. I have experienced this on a personal level; you can read my testimony in a previous post here.

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 18:12-14 (ESV)

God wants us to follow Him not to restrain us, but rather so that we will have freedom and all things that pertain to (true) life, which is in Him alone. His very presence is life itself.

xoxo