I wonder how many times in history people have cried out in their grief, or even in anger, asking God why He has allowed bad things to happen.
Some people do not believe in God, or want anything to do with Him, because they cannot believe in a God who would allow the presence of evil
in the world. Even Christians, who have been saved by God’s grace from the judgment to come, may become upset with God when he allows a
tragedy, illness or difficult circumstances to impact their life. An interesting question to consider is: Just how much sin do we want God to destroy?
Knowing that God’s ultimate penalty for sin is death and eternal separation from Him, if God were to immediately execute that penalty upon
each person when they sin, in short order there would be no people left alive, for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, failing to meet His
perfect standards. If instead, God were to supernaturally turn us into robots that could not sin, that would be a violation of our free will.
God loves us, and wants a people who choose to love Him in return, who love His standard of righteousness, and hate evil.
Without choice, true and meaningful love is not possible. If we all were programed to love God unconditionally, we would be no more than talking
dolls that say, I LOVE YOU! when you pull the string. Instead, God wants us to keep His commandments because we love Him and desires for us
to be a part of His perfect and eternal kingdom where no sin exists. God does not want anyone to perish, but desires that all people everywhere
come to Him for forgiveness of their sins through faith in Christ, the Messiah God sent. Paul explains this further in the following verses:
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in
God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored
by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in
our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:8-11 NLT
