How amazing, how thank-worthy, how almost odd it is that God has a side, a facet, of Himself that only our sin and desperation can invoke. He was Himself before we needed mercy or compassion or the strength of His deliverance. How was He long-suffering and tender-hearted, before there was anyone toward whom to Be long-suffering or tender-hearted?
The obedient angels do not seem to have needed those qualities, and those that fell did not receive them. It’s a mystery. One for which I am profoundly thankful.
Jesus is, so He was, the Lamb Slain From the Foundation of the World. He was always our atonement. Not only before we sinned, but before Adam and Eve were fashioned and subsequently tempted. How long, how many millennia, was Jesus the Perfect Sacrifice before there was an earth or the population thereof? Untold, unending eternities of time, that’s how long.
Thank You, Father, that You were kind before we needed kindness, and thank You that You were a Mighty Warring Savior, before we needed to be rescued. All that You are, You are with or without us. Like a woman who marries a man who is honest and upright and virtuous and gentlemanly before she sparks the love in his heart, You are and ever have been the Prince of Peace, You are Righteousness, and You are the Almighty God, and You were, before there was any unrighteousness.
That is a good thing, for had God not been Righteous, without unrighteousness in the world, He could not be our Righteousness now that we need it … which is to say, Him. He is the only God who is Who He is without any degree of relativity.
All those stories about women who bring out the best in a man, who save them from themselves … that’s grand, but imagine marrying a man who didn’t need any tweaking! Not that a fellow could not at all improve, but let’s hear it for the men who aren’t waiting for some gal to come along, catch their eye, and inspire their integrity to turn on.
That’s our God.
Oh, let’s give thanks that we were wanted! This One, this God, didn’t need us, He wanted us. He had no King Cophetua complex. He didn’t need someone to rescue to make Him feel manly, and I don’t think He even needed someone to love; it was not good for man to be alone, but He, the Lord, was complete and full without us. Somehow, some way, He has designed that it will be more perfect with us. We are privileged to love and be loved, and now we share those qualities with God. Because He is love, He was love before we came along. What an amazing thing this is!
How grateful we may be that He did not Be and just continue to Be without us.
Brillanten, ruby, beryl, corundum, amethyst
Mario Santo … Wikipedia, by permission
Marketplace Monastics 