So, lets get to the point. The things that makes our Father cry:
1. When we sin
God has given us laws. We know that there are things that we should and shouldn't do. But just like every law that is created in this world, they tend to be broken. Indeed, God has given us laws, but he has given us free choice as well. We are able to choose whether we want to obey the laws or not. God simply makes them, but He can't force us.
The very basic example for this is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He created the tree of knowledge. He told Adam and Eve that they can do whatever they want, EXCEPT eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. He has given them a law and the rules that needs to be followed. But Adam and Eve both has a choice whether they will listen or not. They chose to go against the law, eat the forbidden fruit and fall into the deep pit of sin.
Everyone knows by common sense that sinning is bad. But it's easier said than done. It's hard for me to tell you what to do and not to do. If even God can't do that, then how can I possibly do it? What I can do, however, is to help remind you. Remember my other post about the battle between good and evil? If you don't, then read it! I hope that it will encourage you and make you think the next time before you sin. Think about how our Father in Heaven is watching with sadness.
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Matthew 5:16 "Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven."
2. When we forget Him
We tend to ask God for things that we want and pray for it. You must be very familiar with prayers like "God, I pray that I will get good grades, or a boyfriend/girlfriend, get a promotion... If you do, Lord, I promise that I will do whatever you want me to do. I will surrender myself to You and promise to live for You." I'm sure that we all have prayed a prayer similar like that at least once in our life. So okay, we asked, we made a covenant, and God gives what we asked for. We enjoy what He has given us. And what happens after that? We totally forget about Him!
Imagine a small boy who really wants to buy a Playstation 3. He begs his father to buy him one. His father refuses because his son still has a lot of homework to do and everything. So the son promises that he will always do his homework if he will be given the new PS3. The father thinks about it and decides that his son can be trusted. He thinks that this might encourage his son to study harder, keep his promises, and maybe they can even have some bonding time together.
So the next day, the father comes home with the new PS3. The son is so happy and immediately starts playing with it. After a few weeks, every time the father comes home, he sees his son playing a game on his new PS3.
"Son, have you don your homework?" he asked.
"Oh, not yet. But I will after I'm done with this. I'm haven't saved it yet," the son answered, of course not doing his homework at all.
As time goes by, the father sees the same pattern. One day, he got off from his work. He thinks that this might be a good time to play together with his son on the new PS3. But after he asked whether he could join, the son coldly answered: "Sorry dad, it's just a one-player game.. You can't join"
Now imagine if you were the father. How would you feel? You gave your son what he wanted in the hope that he will keep his promises. But what happens is the exact opposite of that. Would you feel sad? Disappointed?
We are exactly the same like that son. And the father represents our heavenly Father. We ask and ask, we make promises, but once it's given, we are so pre-occupied with the gifts He has given that we forget about Him.
Apparently this isn't an issue just now. If any of you guys have read the early book of Judges, you'll notice the same pattern in the Israelites. They started to sin and worship other Gods. God got angry and punished them by letting another country attack them. The Israelites repented and asked God for help, promising that they would obey Him. Being the merciful God He is, He listened and stopped the attack. What happens after that? The Israelites continued to sin again and worshipped other idols. This now becomes a cycle that repeats itself for the first few chapters. I got so annoyed when I read this; annoyed that the Israelites could behave so recklessly and with disrespect towards God. But then I was reminded, that we are doing the modern version of this cycle up until this moment.
Our God is so great and merciful. This problem has been going on for like 4000 years maybe, and yet He still hasn't given up on us. When we ask Him for things, He still grants it in the hope that we will keep our promises. He is so patient even after a looooong period. I mean, if I were Him, I would just ignore everyone and whatever they wished for cause I know the same thing would happen again. But thankfully, I'm not God. Cause God isn't thinking like that, not even the slightest bid. He still loves us no matter how many times we have betrayed Him with our promises. That is because God loves us unconditionally.
3. When we don't look for Him
Do you realize that it's very easy for us to hear the devil's voice? The devil's voice is the one that tells you to do bad stuff. Things like when you have to wake up early to go to school, but you suddenly have a thought that you can as well just sleep in since the class isn't that important anyway. Or like when you're alone in a room, and you have this thought to watch inappropriate stuff on the internet. Those are some examples of the devil's voice, but there are much more ways in which he can tempt us.
So then one might wonder, why can't we hear God's voice as clear?
- We live in a world that is ruled by evil. We are just temporary residents of this world, our real citizenship belongs to heaven. So of course it's easier to hear the voice of the 'ruler' of this Earth. That's why this world is so messed up in the first place! We need a strong bond with God to break free from our evil desire. Once we know God's desire and read His word, we are able to recognize whenever the devil is speaking to us. In that case, we will be able to mute out the voice or simply ignore it. It's not worth listening to. Don't let it harm you.
- Sometimes, without realizing it, we are helping the devil to get to us. What does the devil want the most? For us to get distant from God. So when we don't go to church, are not in a fellowship, don't read the Bible, keep on sinning and everything, then what are we doing? We are getting distant from God. See the connection? We are helping the devil achieve its main goal. So you better be careful with your behavior and think about whether you're helping God, or the enemy.
- God's voice is indeed small - so small that we might sometimes be doubtful. That is exactly why we need faith to believe in His existence. If it's not small, then faith would have no meaning at all and we won't have the tendency to look for Him even more. He wants us to keep looking for Him so that we can build a close relationship with Him. When we're closer to Him, He will pull us even deeper and deeper into Him.
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that he rewards everyone who searches for Him.”
4. When we don't spread the gospel"You alone can rescue, You alone can save
You alone can lift us from the grave
You came down to find us, led us out of death
To You alone belongs the highest praise"
- You Alone can Rescue by Matt Redman
Reflect on this song and the lyrics. See how God is saving us; how He has given us so much blessings and helps us. We are lucky to recognize God's existence and His availability for us. There are so many people who do not know about Him yet, don't know about this salvation. They don't know that there is someone who can lift them from the grave and lead them out of death! There is one saviour, which is Jesus Christ! But if we don't tell this to them, how will they know? We need to share the blessing with other people instead of being selfish and keep all of God's blessings to ourselves. God is sad if people don't have the chance to know Him or praise Him. He deserves the highest praise, how can He gain it if not everyone knows about Him?
The biggest mission for us is written at the end of the book of Matthew. Out of everything, it mentioned the mission to go out and teach the people around us about God. It is that important.
Matthew 28:19 “Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you.”
5. When we don't get along with each other
We are all brothers and sisters of Christ. Feelings of anger, resentment, jealousy and everything else is related to the devil. Remember point number 3? Don't pull ourselves closer to the devil. But let us bear the fruit of the Spirit and learn to love on another. If you are still having a dispute with someone, please work it out. Don't let the devil win!
1 Corinthians 12:27 “Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body.”
1 Corinthians 12:20 “It takes many parts to make a single body.”
1 Corinthians 12:25 “He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others.”
Lets stop making our Father cry. Instead, lets put a smile on His face with our actions. Cause He has given us so much, the least we can do is to NOT make Him sad.
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