He is willing
Scripture: 2 Peter 3:9
In our last three devotions we have considered how God is faithful, how He is present, and how He is able, these three truths alone are breathtaking. So often when we think of God, we envision a mighty Judge on His throne handing out eternal life sentences like they mean nothing, but the truth couldn’t be farther from this. Yes, God is righteous, holy, and He alone is Judge, but is that all there is? We can rejoice in the truth that while God is all those things, He is so much more.
My mother has always explained that she envisions God as the mighty, scary Father figure, while picturing Jesus as a gentle, warm person, but in truth God and Jesus are One (John 10:30, Hebrews 1:3) and thus as Scripture describes, God is the true picture of love (1 John 4:8). We must never forget that if God judged us according to His holy, perfect Law and condemned us to hell, He would be right and good for doing so, but He has a much more amazing hope for our lives: eternal life and fellowship with Him.
Scripture reminds us: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 KJV). By the law of non-contradiction (two things that are directly opposed cannot both be true) if God is not willing that we should perish, He must be willing that we come to repentance and eternal life. Not only is God willing, but because He is faithful, present, and able, He has already given us the only way back to Him: Jesus (John 3:16).
Today I wonder, do you think God is against you? In Christ we are assured that God is for us and in His will through His power, nothing can stand against us (Romans 8:31). May the words to the old hymn “There was One who was willing to die” remind us of the love and the willingness that we may be saved that we have through Jesus:
There was One who was willing to die in my stead,
That a soul so unworthy might live,
And the path to the cross He was willing to tread
All the sins of my life to forgive.
They were borne on the cross,
They were borne on the cross,
O how much He was willing to bear!
With what anguish and loss,
Jesus went to the cross!
But He carried my sins with Him there.
