Let’s continue building our faith pyramid. The first layer—the foundation for all subsequent layers—is “God is”. The second layer, is “He has spoken”. These two layers lead into the third layer, “There is truth.” And I talked about how truth is not just a concept, but the person of Jesus Christ. This leads us into our fourth layer:

God Loves the World

This is eloquently expressed in what is probably the best-known of all Scripture verses:

John 3:16
For God so loves the world that he gave is only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but with have everlasting life.

All of us who are parents are amazed at this. How could he give his son?!?! Would I give my son even if I knew I was going to get him back?

The truth is sometimes scary because it’s not always pleasant. From stuff we laugh at—like a woman asking her husband if the outfit she’s wearing makes her look fat—to the stuff we really cringe at—like breaking the news to a child that grandma has passed away—the truth is not always easy.

The truth-idea that God loves us is both comforting and scary. It’s scary because it means that God actually pays attention to us. That he actually cares what we do with our lives.

And that leads us to ask, “How do we square this with another truth:”

There is Sin

This is a big deal on a lot of levels. Is there really sin? How can a loving God love sinful people? If God loves sinful people maybe he made them that way.

If God isn’t perfect, then sin is no big deal. But if God is perfect and sinless, then where does sin come from and how we—who are son incompatible with God—become compatible?

First, where did sin come from? Didn’t it come God? That’s a scary question and one we’re often hesitant to ask because it seems like it might be blasphemous.

As Christians, we believe in free will. Beavers are expert engineers, but there are really no creative beavers. Sharks are great swimmers and quite majestic, but they don’t invent new swimming events. Some animals learn how to use sticks or stones as tools, but not ever in a creative way. Only in man did God place the ability to be creative, to ask questions, to challenge answers. God chose to create beings who would have the option of choosing him.

As such, we have the option to reject him.

Back in Genesis 2-3, we find the story of man’s first rebellion. We may have pictures in our minds of what Adam and Eve were like—running around in their pristine nudist colony—but I don’t think we can really picture what life was like for them. How many people in this room have or had a doctor’s appointment this month? How many of us have gone to a funeral in the last six months? And did you notice that the tree out in front of the church looks like it’s dying?

Adam and Eve knew nothing of this. No death. No disease. No injuries. No sin.

But then, they fell into temptation and sin entered the world. Nothing would ever be the same. Creation itself groans, Paul tells us, calling out to God. And that groaning takes the form of earthquakes and tsunamis and airborne viruses.

August 27, 2006, 49 people died in the crash of Comair Flight 5191. It was a whole series of errors. There was only one person in the tower when there should have been at least 2. One of the runways was under repair and the pilots should have received notices of such but they didn’t. The pilots are required by their training and by law to do a compass verification of the direction of take-off, which they didn’t do (for unknown reasons). If they had, they would have known they were on the wrong run-way. Their flight manual required that they verify with the flight controller that they were on the right runway, but they didn’t. So they took off down the runway expecting a 5000 foot runway only to learn that it was a 3500 foot runway when they plowed into the trees at the end.

Only the co-pilot survived. He was in a coma for 10 days. He had one leg amputated. And when he woke up the first thing he said was, “Why did God do this to me?”

God is capable of doing anything. But which of these human choices was God supposed to override? Think about it: if God removes the consequences of our errors and sins, we don’t actually have free will.

I met a guy one time who prided himself on being a daredevil. Army ranger. Sky-diver. Moto-cross. He loved risks. He had no use for church, though, because he saw it as only a boring place. No excitement there.

God is the greatest risk-taker of all time

God created mankind. At that moment, he had a choice. He could have made man just a creature of rote. He could have made man be affectionate to himself in the same way sharks swim and beavers build dams.

Or, he could take the greatest risk of all time and allow man free will, knowing that meant that some men and women would choose to reject their creator. But God didn’t desire automatons. He desired friendship and love and companionship. So he gave us the power to choose.

Psalm 40: 6-8
You do not want sacrifices and offerings; you do not ask for animals burned whole on the altar or for sacrifices to take away sins. Instead, you have given me ears to hear you, and so I answered, "Here I am; your instructions for me are in the book of the Law. How I love to do your will, my God! I keep your teaching in my heart." (GNB)

As parents, one of the toughest things to do is to give our children the freedom to screw up. We wish they wouldn’t. We’d do almost anything to keep them from making the same mistakes we did. But we allow them this freedom because we love them. We want them to grow up to be mature, responsible adults.

As Christian parents, we want them to grow up and choose God. Why? Because we love them and want the best for them.

We call God father and that’s what he is. He loves us and wants the best for us. Instead of forcing us to choose him, he gives us the option. He loves us so much as to give us the option of returning that love.

What do I DO with this?

• What do you choose? Do you choose God? To love him and honor him? Like the quote I put in today’s newsletter, we’re called to a marriage covenant. Not for one year or twenty, but for eternity.

• When was the last time you thanked God—not just for putting up with your weaknesses, but for actually loving you?