"Amazing Redirection"

"Open up to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: this gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter." (Psalms 118:19-20)

  As hard as it might be for us to know the magnitude of God's great love for us, it is incredibly easy to receive it; we only need to ask, and He is more than willing to receive us! I don't fully understand it, but He loves us so much, He is waiting for us to cry out to Him for His salvation and His mercy. Yes, that is what we are talking about: Redirection! If there is one thing I know, it is God's love is the same, before and after. He loved us as much before we received His offer of salvation as He loves us now; He does not change, the same love that has drawn us to Him is the same love that will carry us through to the other side. Anyone who might think God's love is different for those who have been saved and for those that have not, does not know the heart of God. The Bible clearly says that He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". (2 Peter 3:9) Not that it makes any difference, but the same love that saved us is the same love that keeps us. In other words, we constantly need His unconditional love! We should never think otherwise, as if, the love we needed then is not the same as the love we need now; as if we are now somehow able to love Him as we should, so we have evened the playing field. We are what we are because Christ lives in us! We are in Christ, and He lives in us; without Christ, we are the same broken and selfish person that we were before. The love of Christ constrains us...

"And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God's ways; fools will never walk there. Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it. Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return. They will enter Jerusalem with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness." (Isaiah 35:8-10) NLT