God's Amazing Compassion

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Today's Passage: Genesis chapters 8 & 9
Memory Verses: Romans 5: 8-10a

I'm reading a novel by Christian author, Randy Alcorn, called Deadline. In this book, two best friends die. One was a believer and goes to heaven. The other one did everything he could to reject Christ, so of course he ends up in hell. The author describes hell as a place where the other friend finds himself completely alone, replaying the missed opportunities he was given to change his mind and accept Christ.

The thing that stood out to me the most in this part of the novel was how unrepentant the man is. Even after realizing how wrong he was about the existence of God, rather than allowing himself to be filled with regret over making the wrong choices, he begins to accuse God of being cruel. There was no way a loving God would have created such a horrible place for those He created. He totally ignores the fact that HE, not God, spent his entire life wanting nothing to do with this God.

In conversations with people who choose a life of lawlessness rather than submission, the very same opinions come up. How could God claim to love us but send us to hell? How could He condemn His very own creation in today's passage to destruction? These people, just like the man in the novel, are ignoring some important facts. God saw the evil and addressed it by sending Noah to warn them to repent. How many years was Noah building that humongous boat again? For about 140 years, which gave them plenty of time to recognize how serious God was about wanting to save them.

As if that length of time weren't enough to show God's compassion, get this: those same people who were destroyed in the flood were given yet another opportunity to accept salvation. Don't believe me? The Bible says Jesus went to hell and preached to all those who had died in their sin. And do you know some of them STILL wouldn't repent and accept that free gift? What more would God have to do to show His compassion? Here it is: He promised that He would never again use water to destroy His creation. Not only that, but He gave His Only Son as a sacrifice so that we would never have to die that spiritual death. If you have not yet accepted this wonderful gift, please let Christ in today. If you already have, tell someone who may be clueless about the Father's amazing compassion.

Prayer: Father, You are so loving. I know this because when You called out to me, I ignored You and kept sinning right in Your face. Yet You went to great lengths to find and woo me. I shouldn't be alive today, but for Your great compassion. May I never be ashamed to declare this message so that someone else can receive what I did. I love You forever, in Jesus' Name, Amen.