--- Are you Loved by God?
Are you a Christian? ---
Do you understand the difference?
Do you truly love God?
Do you even really know Him?
Written: 2021
Those are silly questions, some might want to argue; as they imagine being loved by God and being a Christian is one and the same thing. It very definitely is not! Your life depends on your understanding the difference...
All that is required to be loved by God is to be alive, to be conceived from two people made in his image. (Gen 1:27‑28) God loves every single one of his children; more than I could put in words. Fortunately for all, the Apostle John was inspired to put God's love for us into words; at least as best that can be done...
(John 3:16-21) . . .“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent forth his Son into the world, not for him to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him. 18 He that exercises faith in him is not to be judged. He that does not exercise faith has been judged already, because he has not exercised faith in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19 Now this is the basis for judgment, that the light has come into the world but men have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked. 20 For he that practices vile things hates the light and does not come to the light, in order that his works may not be reproved. 21 But he that does what is true comes to the light, in order that his works may be made manifest as having been worked in harmony with God.”
(1 John 4:7-10) . . .Beloved ones, let us continue loving one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born from God and gains the knowledge of God. 8 He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was made manifest in our case, because God sent forth his only-begotten Son into the world that we might gain life through him. 10 The love is in this respect, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent forth his Son as a propitiatory [eternally covering] sacrifice for our sins.
So, then, everyone is loved by God. But, what about our being Christian and/or a friend of God? Well, that's a wholly different matter! According to those scriptures, those who love God also love the other sons and daughters of Adam. Do you? We are told all lovers of God gain such love for others by exercising faith in the words of Jesus Christ. Being Christian requires a conscious conscience decision made by the person seeking God; (1 Chr 28:9) that decision being to follow Jesus Christ because of faith in what he taught. Hence the Bible [and only] name for each individual doing that: "Christian." (Acts 11:26) You need to understand and to be certain, however, you are obeying only Christ; because he is the only one qualified to teach us what the one true God wants us to know. Teaching you the truth is one part of why Jesus came! (John 18:37; Acts 4:12; Mat 23:1‑13) And, Jesus warned we would have to be careful of false Christs and prophets. (Mat 24:23-28; John 10:1-5) Why, though, is only Jesus qualified? Because Jesus is the one instructed and sent by his Father to teach us how to make the change from being loved by God; to being a lover of God. Jesus came to teach us how to become God's friend and thus be protected by Him. (John 15:11‑16; John 8:42‑47) Be aware: God's only latter day command is to listen to his Son. (Mark 9:7; John 6:28-29) The very simple gist of this webpage is so you can know this: The difference between being a good person or a bad one, is whether you choose to put faith in the teachings of God's son, whether you are actually following Jesus Christ "is" who you are... (John 3:19 of 16-21)
Why is it necessary to understand the difference between being a Christian friend of God and being loved by him? Because even though everyone is loved by God; they are not all his friends. And, all those refusing their opportunity to become friends of God will soon be dead! (Psa 37:10; John 8:24) The tribulation we are existing in gives witness to why it must be that way... To better understand why we must become a friend of God, and what that even means, please consider King David of old. David was a man who was loved by God; and, David loved God as well. So... God blessed David to save Israel using him to kill Goliath while still a young man or teenager, and then later, to become King of Israel. (1 Sam 17) While David was upright from youth and for most all of his life, soon after becoming King, David had an illicit affair with Bathsheba and she conceived a child. David first tried to manipulate her husband Uriah into being intimate with Bathsheba so people would think the child was his. Finally, David murdered Uriah and married Bathsheba. (2 Sam 11:2‑12:25) So, even though David repented and continued as one loved and protected and used by God, do you really think he would have been called God's friend during the time of his gross sin. Would a true friend of God do those horrible things. Of course not! What was missing in David that kept him from being a friend of God? Here's the point: David's life illustrates our need for Christ. David couldn't be God's friend because he didn't know Jesus Christ. He couldn't know Christ, of course, because David lived a little over a thousand years before Christ was born. The point for us all: We can only become a true friend of God by exercising faith in what his son Jesus taught. (John 6:28‑40) Doesn't that mean we have to know what Christ taught? Read your Gospels to familiarity... Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
What, though, about Abraham? Some will surely note the Bible says he was called "friend" by God even though he lived about 2000 years before Christ. (Isa 41:8) Yes, Abraham was called a friend of God. And yes, it's true he didn't know Christ. Or did he? The lives of all those ancient men served as a tutor leading us to Christ! (Gal 3:23-26) Abraham's life was used by God as a powerful lesson about the coming Messiah [Jesus Christ]. The Old Testament was for the purpose of explaining how they should watch for and recognize the Messiah; and to understand why we need him. (Gal 3:23‑26) The teachings of Jesus lead to a decision of opportunity for us all; and how we respond to his words forms the basis of our judgment. (John 3:19‑21) What, though, about Abraham? How could he be called God's friend without knowing Christ? It is because Abraham's whole life amounted to a test that served as a picture or prefigure of what our heavenly Father would do for his human sons and daughters using the sacrifice and teachings of Jesus Christ. Abraham loved and was faithful to God from his youth. God then chose Abraham to be given a great honor. Abraham was promised he would become one in the line of those men and women God was using to produce the promised Messiah. Abraham would be forefather of The Christ [Anointed One]. In Eden, God had promised he would raise up a seed of the woman [a son of Eve; hence Jesus being referred to as the "son of man" (Mat 9:2-8)] who would destroy Satan. (Gen 3:15; 1 John 3:8) God thus extended or clarified that Edenic promise when he told Abraham that by means of his seed, all nations of the earth would bless themselves. (Gen 18:16‑19) The promised Messiah would be one of Abraham and his wife Sarah's descendants. (Sarah notably selected and used by God as an ancestress of Christ - Gen 17:15‑21) Abraham waited years for his promised son to be born. Then, Abraham waited some more. In his old age and past child bearing years for both he and Sarah, he still waited. Finally, the promised son was miraculously born from his old age [at over 100 years]. Abraham had spent his whole life in service to God, waiting on that son of promise who would be a blessing to all the nations. Then, when his son Isaac was still a young man or teenager, God told Abraham to go and sacrifice his son. What...? That might indicate Abraham had developed a problem: He loved God and he loved Isaac, of course. Over the years, his love for Isaac and God's promises surrounding that son had become so great, it might have eclipsed Abraham's love for God. So, for that reason and/or to prefigure what would happen with Christ being sacrificed by God, God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. After the three day ordeal of traveling and preparing for the offering, Abraham raised the knife to kill his son. God intervened to provide a substitute offering. It is what God then said, we must be careful to get the importance of: God "then" said to Abraham, "Now I do know you are God fearing, in that you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me." (Gen 22:9‑18) In that "work" of faith by Abraham, of attempting to offer the most important thing in his life (excpept God, of course), Abraham illustrated what the teachings of Christ do for the rest of us who express faith. In passing our test of listening to God (Mat 17:5) and putting faith in the words of His Christ, we demonstrate God is most important. If King David had had an understanding of Jesus's teachings, he likely would not have done what he did with Bathsheba and Uriah. Abraham might be thought of as having passed the same test we all pass when we demonstrate our love for God by exercising faith in the sayings of his son. Abraham's works of faith made him God's friend, just as our placing faith in the words of Jesus make us God's friends. (John 15:11‑16; James 2:23; Gal 3:26‑29) Remember too, about this drama, part of the promise to Abraham included his teaching his sons and daughters to worship the true God. (Gen 18:16‑19) In his old age, Abraham would have been wise and experienced enough to share his knowledge of God with Isaac.
So, then, just being alive makes you loved by God. He is then searching among all of us to show his power and to help. (2 Chron 16:9) How? Jesus answered that question when he told us no one can come to him unless they are first drawn by his Father. (John 6:44) As God watches each one of us, he takes note if we are inclined to be aware of him and to be obedient. (1 Chr 28:9) Disobedience is what caused the tribulation destroying our world. God has to stop and put an eternal end to that disobedience before He can make things better. Otherwise, the wicked would just keep tearing it all down. Have you seen Ukraine and Gaza and...? (JustBibleTruth.com/URAwake.pdf) Since Jesus was born, God has given only one command. He spoke from a cloud to tell us Jesus was his son and we should must listen to him. (Mat 17:5) That's it... That's how God is showing his power in behalf of each one of us. That is God's one and only simple and final solution to all our problems. We listen to Jesus to learn what he was sent by his Father to teach, and then, based in that knowledge, we place absolute faith in the son of God as our savior. That conscious decision is the act of stepping from death into life. (John 5:24) Putting faith in Christ, above everything else, shows God the same thing about us He learned about Abraham. And no, since it is our choice to make, God can't know who you are before you make the choice. (Mal 3:16-4:3) By our faith in and obedience to Christ, God can know we are God fearing, in that we have not withheld anything from him. We become his friends and can be protected for eternity, surviving right through this tribulation and Armageddon. (Psa 91:5‑10)
So, if you have the ability to understand and reason on these words of Christ, you can know you are loved by God no matter what. Whether you are his friend, however, is based on you; on whether you have made the choice to subjugate all you have and desire to the will of God, through your obedience to Christ. That is God's will for you. (Mark 3:31‑35; 1 Thes 5:16‑22; 1 Tim 2:1‑7) He is your loving Father and wants to take care of you and protect you. For him to be able to do that, however, you have to demonstrate you are not and will not continue as one of the people who have caused the tribulation killing us all. The only way you can step out of the crowd being destroyed is by your expressed faith in Christ. (John 5:24) How could you put faith in him if you haven't put forth the effort to learn what he taught? The purpose of the Bible is to lead you to Christ. What Christ taught is then recorded in the four short Gospel Books by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Sit at Jesus's feet by reading those Gospels over and over to the point of personal familiarity! (Mark 3:31‑35)
To know if you love God and are protected by him, another question you might want to ask yourself is whether you are a Christian or religious. Religionists are a clear majority. Religions are all the groups that have gathered to worship God in a way they want to believe He will approve. Religions are all the methods people concoct trying to "justify themselves" before God. They construct rules of conduct and approval they usually call their doctrine of faith; with many containing some scriptures. Others expertly "read" chicken bones and dance around totems in the firelight. Most all Religionists are convinced they are blessed by God through "their" form of worship. If you disagree, their doctrine gives them authority to condemn you in their God's name. Christians, on the extreme other hand, are all the individuals who have heard God's command to listen to his son, (Mat 17:5) and are actually doing that. (Mark 3:31-35) Christians also form a group, of course, but grouped only by their individually having joined Christ. No Christian joined "their" group to become a Christian... Christians are combined into a group only because each one is reading Christ's words and following Jesus.
What do you say about yourself? Doesn't matter what I think of course. God is listening... (Mal 3:16-4:3) See you soon, then, in paradise! (Rev 21:1-4; Isa 11:1‑12)
Use browser "Back Arrow" or Alt+Left_Arrow keys to previous page. | Home Page
