BECAUSE HE WANTS TO

Have you ever played the computer game Sim City? In this game you build your own city. You are in control. You decide where the houses will be, how commerce will be conducted, what amenities will be made available to the public, how the economy will be driven, and so on. It's your game—you make the rules. The “people” you create cannot object—what right would they have? You bought it, you installed it on your computer, and you’re playing it. You can do what you want to do.

In the same way, God can do what he wants to do, because he is God. But here is where examples lack a perfect parallel. We are not mere pots of clay. We are not a series of binary ones and zeros. We are humans. And God doesn't treat humans with disregard. The Bible describes how God treats humans; “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

God can do what he wants to do, and he doesn't need anyone's permission. “’I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.’ So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it” (Romans 9:15-16). He can love who he wants to love. He can forgive who he wants to forgive. He can condemn who he wants to condemn. God doesn't owe you, or me, or anyone, anything. You are not in a position to dictate to God your own personal concept of right and wrong. He dictates to us the difference between right and wrong. Neither are we in a position to judge God. He is in a position to judge us. That's because he is God. He made it all, he owns it all, and he makes the rules.

To anyone who might say this is unfair, the apostle Paul says; “Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?”(Romans 9: 20-21). Paul's example sheds light on the spiritual truth that God has the right to do with us what he wants because he is our creator.

Therefore, since God can do anything he wants to do, what does he want to do? He wants to save you. He wants to forgive you. He wants to help you. He wants to bring peace and love and joy into your life. He wants to fill your life with his presence. He wants to give you the desires of your heart. This God — who can do anything he wants to do, because he is, after all, God — wants more than anything to give you a life here on earth full of purpose, and he wants to spend all of eternity with you in heaven. This is why you can trust him. He's not arbitrary and vindictive. He's not out to get you. He's out to give you a great life. It's what he wants to do.

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