God Loves Everybody

The senior pastor at our local church wrote a little "ABC" poem about the different type of people that God loves. It was silly and light and got people engaged. But then he went on to make the real point. God does in fact love everybody, including terrorists and murderers. That bothered some people.

But that's the truth of God's word. When the Bible says "God so loved the world..." that doesn't include only "good" people. If that's who God loved, he wouldn't love anybody, because there's really no such thing. Everybody falls far short of his standard, which is the whole point of why Christ came.

So, even though they make your worst of the worst list, and mine, God loves rapists. God loves child molestors. God loves pornographers. God loves drug dealers. God loves prostitutes and pimps. God loves burglars. God loves corporate thieves. God loves crooked politicians. God loves lawyers who know their client is guiltly but get them off anyway. God loves drunk drivers. God loves arsonists. Get the picture? God loves everybody.

The point was made that he destroyed people in the past for their wickedness, so how could he love them? And I know people have pointed out that if God loves everybody, why would he send anyone to hell?

Well. God is also holy and righteous. He hates all manner of sin, and sin must be dealt with.

Out of his love God will show mercy to the sinner (that's you, me, everybody). He will be patient with the sinner and wait for him to accept the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, who paid for the sins of the world on the cross. But that offer doesn't last forever. Eventually he will give the sinner over fully, and that sin will have to be dealt with another way. The one who doesn't accept Christ and do it God's way is in dire straits at this point. He has to pay for his sin, but can't. There's only one place for him to go. In other words, God doesn't send anyone to hell; they send themselves there by choosing to do things their own way rather than God's way.

Back to all those "really bad people" out there -- they need their sin dealt with the same way the rest of us do, but God really does love them. He loves them as much as he loves you. They'll be punished one day if they don't come to Christ, but that's their choice. However, if they repent and turn to Jesus, they too will be forgiven, just like you were if you already received Christ. In fact, there is NO ONE who can out-sin God's forgiveness. So what are Christians to do? Spread the gospel to everybody, even those no one wants to touch with a ten foot pole. That's a difficult job. Praise God for those who are called to go out there and do that job with all their heart!

Now, if you're one of those still struggling with this notion that God loves everybody, consider Paul, formerly Saul. You know him. That Rabbinic Jew who was bent on getting Christians killed just for believing in Jesus Christ. Had he had his wish, no one would know about what Christ did today. There would be no Christians. Yet God loved HIM. And he used him. He used him to be a missionary like the world has never seen since. He used him to write much of the New Testament. He used him to bring the good news to the gentiles. He did much through Paul. Yet this man wasn't just a regular "bad guy" back in the day -- he was having people MURDERED for believing in JESUS. And God saved him. So why wouldn't he save anyone else?

Jesus is for everybody. If you don't know him, he's for you, too.

Grace and Peace