No Matter What

Yesterday I saw “Fireproof.”
It was a matinee, and the theater was packed, even though the movie has been out
for a week. I was impressed with the leap in quality over the last movies by the
same producers. I
don’t often hear people applaud during a movie or see them openly crying as the
lights come back up at the end. I expected
Kirk Cameron to carry the movie, but I didn’t expect him to be that
believable. And he didn’t carry it alone. Erin Brea, who plays his wife, is
surprisingly his match.

But praise of a movie is not why I’m writing this.
I got the message: God loves me, no matter what the response. And
we should love no matter what the response. I have heard, and perhaps you have
too, that Christ would have died on the cross even if you were the only person
who ever believed. That may be true, but I’ve come to a deeper conclusion: I
believe Christ would have died on that cross even if He knew ahead of time that
no one would ever come to Him. Love is only love if it’s based on the source,
not the object.

About five years into our marriage I
realized that I had to make a decision. I had to decide that my wife was
beautiful. I decided that 34 years ago, and she’s still beautiful. There’s
nothing on the internet to match, so I’m not even checking. If I ever see
something while crossing the street or elsewhere that confuses me, I simply look
back at my wife to reset the standard. Though I didn’t mention it in “Hidden
Cost,” my love commitment to her is one thing that helped me through my loss
of faith, even though our marriage was shaky.

Descartes could only say, “I think, therefore I am.” I could say, “I love,
therefore I am not all there is.”

When I finally came to the conclusion
that God was real (again), it was also with the realization that I should never
be saved. After all, I well knew the Scriptures, and that included, “No one who
puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” God was real, and
Christ had died on the cross for those who accepted Him, but I couldn’t believe
that could include those who accepted and then turned back. And boy, had I
looked back! If God was real and the only thing worthy to follow, what was left
for me to do? This may sound weird, but since it’s the truth, I’ll say it: I
came to the conclusion that even if I was destined for Hell, I would live my
life for God, because He was the only One worth living for. I would praise Him;
I would do what His Word says; just don’t ask me to speak for Him, because I
would not want to invite anyone to where I was.

One day I was taking a walk with my beautiful wife,
and she asked me a question about the Bible. I don’t remember the
question, but I remember the answer, because I am the one who desperately needed
to hear it. The answer was John 6:44. “No one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” I
thought about the answer for the rest of the day and into the night. I read the
whole chapter over and over. The first sentence in verse 44 says that He had to
first draw me. I would not even want Christ, much less seek Him out, unless God
the Father placed that desire in me. That means that if I want Christ, then God
the Father of all Heaven endorses me to Christ. And Christ’s response? “I will
not turn down my Father’s request. I will raise that one up on the last day.”
Let me say that again: If I want Him, it is only because He wants me. There is
absolutely no human being, including me, whom Christ will turn away, if we
simply respond to God’s draw.

What is left?
He gave Himself for me, no matter what I do. I will follow Him no matter what He
does. Therein is truth.