Today as my mind wandered during countless study breaks, I connected a few dots from lessons I've learned in the past 4 months, to facts I've known forever, to what might be common sense. Tonight, I just wanted to put into writing something that has really struck me in the past couple days that I would like to delve further into.
So about a month and a half ago, I was desperate for some leisure reading, and a friend had suggested the book, The Shack. I didn't know much about the book other than it was a Christian book, so I ordered a used copy from Amazon Germany and dove in. Now, I understand some people find this book to be extremely controversial, and I am fully aware that it is a novel, that it is not an account of any specific happening. However, whether you agree with what William Paul Young has written or not, many points come to light in his story that are simply undeniable and very thought provoking.
One of these facts that is drilled from every Christian's mind from the get-go is the idea that we are all God's children, and he loves us all equally. No matter our skin color, no matter our gender, no matter our age. Good or bad, happy or sad, in sickness and in health. Even as young children we hear of God's unconditional, unfailing love, and as children I feel it might be easier to understand or believe this. For me anyway, as a soon-to-be adult, this idea is really hard to fully wrap my mind around. A particular scene that takes place in The Shack, and our last Amsterdamian church service on Sunday have given God's unconditional love a firm foundation in my heart.
Just for some background on the story, the main character, Mack, has faced an unthinkable tragedy. His youngest daughter has been kidnapped and killed. While struggling with his "great sadness" for quite some time, he receives an anonymous invitation to the cabin where the only remains of his daughter were found, for the weekend. Hesitantly, Mack decides to lie to his wife and make the weekend journey out to the shack.
Okay, so I don't want to give the entire book away, just incase you want to read it for yourself, but in the scene I'm referring to, Mack is struggling to understand how or why evil people can exist, or still be loved by God. He is told that it is Judgement Day, but he will be the one doing the judging, not God. He is then told that of his 4 living children, he must decide which one is the most worthy of Heaven, and whom is to be condemned. Devastated and confused, Mack begs for another option. He simply cannot come to terms with the fact that he must choose between his children, his own flesh and blood, his heart and soul. Desperate for away out, he passionately requests that he be taken instead. Mack asks to sacrifice his life because he cannot be made to choose from the lives of his children.
The Ultimate Sacrifice.
As I was going back through some notes I made in the book while I was reading, I found that this idea really hit me like a rock. Many people, including myself, struggle with this idea that God loves us all. That we are all LITERALLY his children. But then as I recognized this metaphor representing the Ultimate Sacrifice God had to make, by giving Jesus in order to save us. He had to give the physical form of himself because he loves us all so much, every single one of us, that he couldn't possibly choose which ones could be saved and which not.
Just that idea that God loves each of us that much, completely blows my mind. In the midst of all the tragedy our country is facing today, the love between a child and his parent has been made excruciatingly apparent. While watching videos of parents whose children survived the massacre, I have cried along with them, unable to imagine even having enough love in my heart that parents hold for and give to their children. And then on top of that, to have to sever that bond, to see the miracle that you live for, hope for, dream for, wake up every day for, just taken? It's heartbreaking. It's astounding. And I for one can't believe God did that for us. And on an infinite scale. What have we done to deserve that love, that sacrifice?
We are his children. That's all we had to do, and he did it for us, by creating us in his own name.
Tonight I pray first for everyone involved and affected by the Sandy Hook Shootings. My body aches for the lives lost, the innocent souls taken. I hope that this message has reached some of you, and that I personally will remember this truth every day of my life. Finally, that each and every one of you might know what it's like to feel that unconditional, undying, sacrificial love, today and for all of your days.
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