But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done. “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. [Ezekiel 18.21-23]
This is the heart of God. This is the will of God.
God does not wish to destroy people and nations. He wants them to live.
And why does God want people to live? Because life is His way. Because He is good and only desires good upon His creation.
This will be the desire of God's genuine followers too. One cannot say he is a follower of God and desire anything but good upon all. One cannot say he is a follower of God and not be heartbroken about sin and its subsequent death found in God's creation.
God's desire is for wayward people to repent and return to Him. Why? So they might live.
God's true followers' desire is for wayward people to repent and return to Him. Why? So they might live.
There is no room for a mad declaration for repentance toward wayward people. There is however a desperate need for a passionate plea to those who are lost in sin. There is a desperate need for people to be lovingly rescued from the death sentence upon them due to their sinfulness.
If anyone professing Christianity experiences anything but regret and remorse when witnessing judgment upon others, then that person does not have the heart of God and is not about the Kingdom and work of God.
Perhaps, more than for any other reason, this is why the Church needs to repent. Our proud hearts feel the need to see justice served instead of forgiveness and mercy given. We like to remind ourselves that God is just and so we convince ourselves we are right in our satisfaction with justice. But more likely is possibility that we just think ourselves better than others and wish to see them suffer for it. In God's MOST vivid picture of Himself to the world, Jesus, we do not see such a desire for justice upon others. Instead, we see a passionate, selfless desire for all to be saved from their deserved justice of death and suffering. We see Jesus willing to bear a cross that was not His to bear in order to spare others.
The difference between God desiring justice and humans desiring justice is this: While both desire justice, humans desire to see justice served on others. God however desired to spare justice upon others by bearing it Himself.
See the difference? God does not want to see men suffer and die. He wants them to live.
Father, thank You for revealing Your heart to me today. Forgive me for my selfish sense of justice that is nothing like what Jesus so clearly showed me.
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