God.

In Him is all. There is nothing that is, that is not from Him. Every life was created, initiated, ordained and sustained by Him. So how can it be that God would create a place like hell?

How would it be if no place was created? How would it be if Satan and the fallen ones were destined to be among us forever, ruling the area they were given and continually, forever plotting for the destruction of man, whom God loves? What would it be like to consider an eternity at war with Beings who are strategic in conceiving to steal…to kill…and to destroy? Would that seem like justice? Would that seem fair? 

Even with the limited and finite understanding we possess, we know intuitively that this fate would be unjust. So many cannot embrace this that they have then chosen to believe there are no such Beings as Satan. The arrogance humanity displays in redefining what is so comfort can be maintained is truly extraordinary. If it doesn‟t make sense to us, it cannot be so. I get stuck in it too.

What about love? Isn‟t love, especially the love of God, enough to cover a multitude of sins? Isn‟t there room for God to correct and forgive in love? 

It is always the first card he plays.

And we get to choose. Think about this for a minute. If there were no invisible Spiritual Beings other than God, and he asked us for our voluntary love, would there be a choice for us other than him?

This is arrogance- to think that because I cannot understand a thing- it must not be God.

This is mercy-that I still exist in spite of my arrogance.

This is love- that he gave all he had, more than I realize, already- so I could go to a beautiful place filled with light and remain with him forever. The cost for this life was not something I could pay. So he paid it for me, regardless of whether I choose him or not. Talk about no strings attached!

Who are we to think that our finite minds could grasp eternal truths in their fullness?  If

God stopped considering me, for a moment, the very fabric of me would disintegrate and

I would be erased. God who created us is God who sustains us. Without the restraint of His Spirit, there would be an invasion of evil into the very air so thick it would make breathing impossible. It would make my ability to contemplate God equally impossible. Forgiveness would not exist. The responsibility alone, for my own imperfections, would burden me and kill hope of spiritual life. 

Here is a lie- that it is pride to believe I am special and created for a unique purpose. It misses the mark to not believe this about me.

I had a vision. God. Sizeless, endless, alive. I saw his hand pull something out of his heart. He fashioned it and placed it on the land. He spoke an extra level of life into it. And there was a journey. That which he shaped moved away…farther and farther, to a certain point. I heard a voice- it said, “this far and no farther”. Then it all became turned and it headed back towards him. When it reached him again it became a part, once more, of his heart. So it is, with all creation, that chooses him. Making other choices makes the path longer and may even change the final destination, but returning to his heart was his blessing for us. He showed me the point when that which he made was the farthest from him. That was time when my heart was the farthest from the knowledge of his love. Where are you in your journey? Are you headed towards him, or headed back? Consider that we have been pulled out and fashioned from the very heart of the uncreated God of all that ever was, or is, or shall be! He knew how hard it would be to make that turn…from leaving to returning in his direction. He knew the enemy would distort sound in the spaces between us. And so he gave us proof that his love remains. His welcome does not end. He offered up something we would recognize. Life. The death would stand as evidence for the days when we are cloudy or confused. What an amazing plan!

We were created to know love. To be love. To become an ever increasing perfect form of love. 

God created a place for our development. Of the people, for the people and by the people. We choose. To continue in the plan of perfection. Or to try to form our own perfection. 

But God could never not love you! You are a part of Him. And he prepared a place for you so you could be with him forever. It is so beautiful that you will be more satisfied than you knew possible. He demonstrated his love for you already. He so loved you that he gave his only son up, to die a tortured death, so that his son could take the sin you could not wash off yourself- his son refused all temptation so he could be the sacrifice for you to have restored relationship with you. He loves you that much!

Love is God. God is love. From him we come, and back to him we will return. The stuff here that happens, it is all part of the transforming work to mature us, so that when we are all one again the glory will be more glorious. He knew we would not be able to do this on our own. God is mercy. And mercy made a way for our reunion with the uncreated glorious God. Our God. His plan is beautiful. Our requirement is that we come to the end of ourselves.And that we yield. And find the peace in yielding that leads us into perfect love. God‟s plan was that we, minute vessels that we are, would be demonstrations of his excellence on the earth. But he is not out to force us. He will not coerce or intimidate. Sometimes people who do not know him fully try those techniques, and it can feel atrocious. But that is their wounds, it is not an accurate representation of him. He is light, and freedom, and love. Unconditional and full. He made a way for us, and then he issued forth the decree that it would only be if we were willing. 

He knew there would be some who went their own way. There will be some who believe that they can find fulfillment in themselves. He understood. And yet, he is mercy. And he recognized that for them to stay in that state of arrogance for eternity especially after seeing they had missed the goodness of love, would be torture. To forever live with the knowledge that you had missed it, to forever be aware that you had denied what is truly good because you thought too highly of yourself, would be an existence of eternal condemnation.

And he knew there would be some who pledged their allegiance to the lesser lights for the power they offered. He knew that some would make the decision to corrupt their own hearts because their souls were more important to satisfy than their spirit was to develop. He saw in advance the regrets they would have on the day when the truth changed the earth. He knew it would be intolerable for them to carry the guilt of knowing they had forfeited love for pettiness. He knew the angers and hate that were harbored in their hearts would do even more destruction if left to continue growth. 

And he knew there would be some who let the fabric of their faith be owned by darkness. There were some who might not consciously go their own way but by letting their fear run them, they gave their allegiance to the opposite of peace ond overcoming victory.

God sees the heart and he will judge justly. Far better than any other man.

I remember a day in the shower. It was before the repressed trauma of childhood had come forth in my life. I was washing and my legs lost their strength. Down I went. The water was hitting my head, and my eyes if I turned my head up. He spoke. He said that I was going to be angry (when I remembered). He said to remember that I am not the judge of the human heart. I did not create them and I was not qualified to know what had built in them to cause them to respond the way they did. He told me vengeance is his. And he said that I was to focus on me, and my responses, and let him take care of the things that were his. 

James, Samuel, my list here?

Because a part of his plan he put into place knowing some would turn from him. In mercy he saw that for those who chose the ways that destroy, it would be intolerable torment for them to remain in that state forever without decay. And so, he allowed sin to enter into Adam and Eve. And when they chose what missed God, decay became a part of the plan. 

In addition he added decay into the ends of those who fall away, too far way, from the heart of their Father. He balanced the expansion and contraction of our world with his plan. For those who choose life and the love that evolves into completion, expansion continues. And for those who choose fear over faith, or darkness, or themselves, because of the futility they will eventually hit, he create a place that contracts. It devolves. Deteriorates. Unravels. Removes itself. Loses connection with the gift of life so that it cannot forever sin against it. Transformation into lower life. Just as it was mercy to remove the eternality from Adam and Eve the moment they sinned, it is the same mercy that recognizes the impossible burden of carrying sin forever without release. And so, as those who live grow from glory to glory, those who do not believe will change, from life to death to lesser death to lesser, until non existence is the final act of mercy that is possible to recognize. 

This is mercy- to make a decision that others may not understand, that others (the very same ones he wants to woo into love) might be offended by- is the risk that love demanded. 

A rescue, from destruction too terrible to bear. Even to the end he is mercy. 

What is your definition of terrible? What is the worst you can imagine? Once hell was created, and the enemy recognized the cost of his defeat, he sought again to counterfeit God. Where God says eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor can it enter into the hesart of a man what God has prepared for those who love him, the enemy has, by his own actions, chosen an abode the exact opposite. In opposing God he determined his own fate. And the eternal that used to turn towards life now turns toward death. Perpetually. And without recourse.