Father and Son

　"Come here my son. Come here and let me love you".
"But father, I am not a very good son. I am not even worthy to be called your son. I have done so many wrong things in my life. How can you still call me your son?"
"Come my son, sit here and I will tell you."
"A long time ago, way before you became my son, I was watching you. I saw you when you were a little boy as your mama took you, your brother, and your sisters to Sunday School to learn about me. You really liked Sunday School didn't you."
"Yes father I did."
"I continued to watch you as you grew older and became a teenager. Of course I know all that you did, even the bad things. But one thing that I noticed about you, that sadly, most people do, is that as you grew older, you never used my name in vain. You always seemed to give me respect even when you were not living for me."
"I always tried to reverence your name father, no matter what kind of life that I may have been living."
"You see my son, I looked deep inside your heart to the real you. Of course you did not know it, but I was looking beyond your life in your world, for I saw that you had a heart of sincerity. It took me a long time, but I was finally able to crack through the hard layers of your heart, and then I began to call you. You never knew it, but I had been working with you for a long time before you ever met your brother Joe. My son, Joe was just the icing on the cake. He did his part perfectly."
"So after years of work and preparation, I brought you unto myself to become my son."
"But what about all of the times that I failed after I became your son?"
"My child, I knew your weaknesses. I knew where your struggles would be, and I knew that some things were going to be extremely difficult for you to get a victory over. But I continued to look beyond those things and searched your heart. Every time you failed, you asked me to forgive you. Many times you never cried when you repented and asked for forgiveness, but I read your heart, and I knew that you were truly sincere when you asked me."
"But I failed at the same things for so long. How were you able to put up with it?"
"You see, I knew that after you became my son, that you would sell yourself out to me and I knew that you would mean it. I delivered you from many things as you know, and your thankfulness goes deeper than you may realize. But one thing that really touched my heart, was that even from a child, you always had it in your heart, that you did not want to go to Hell. Many times people do not think about that, but you did. In fact, that was one of the reasons which led you to come to me."
"But father, how could you have allowed me to continue failing in my weaknesses and not correct me?"
"Oh my son, I did discipline and correct you, but you never knew it. Most importantly, you received my correction and discipline properly."
"But father, why did you not allow me to be turned over to a reprobate mind and allow me to believe and do as I wanted to?"
"Because my son, you believed in me. Your heart was full of love for me, and I knew how much you really wanted to be with me. I watched you and listened to you as you prayed. Many times you were so broken before me, it was as if you were devastated within yourself to know that you had sinned against me. You were always so humble and willing for me to use you, and I also saw your childlike desire to be obedient to me."
"But father, many times I was disobedient to your word. I felt many times that you tried to draw me into prayer and also to fast, but often I failed to respond."
"That I know my son, but your sincere willingness to be obedient was what I looked for. For I knew that through the fulfillment of my plan, I would see you become more obedient unto me as you continued to grow spiritually. My son, even though my thoughts are infinite and I know the beginning and the ending of all things, and since I am the sovereign, all-powerful God, there are times that if I choose to, I can refrain from looking into my children's future to see the outcome of things, and then observe them as to what choices they will make, when placed in a difficult or tempting situation. For as you know my son, I gave all of humanity the power of choice."
"So father, if we made the wrong choice about something, then you were not able to work out your plan for us at that particular time, and we then had to go through that situation again, or even face something more difficult in order for you to fulfill your plan. Is that right?"
"Exactly my son. Many times your troubles would not have been as severe, had you remembered that I was with you. But you attempted to satisfy the situation yourself and you were not able to do so."
"But how father were you able to love me so deeply and forgive me, especially when I would get so angry at times, sometimes by expressing myself violently and destructively, as if I was trying to release some deep rooted anger inside?"
"Because my child, I created you. You are a part of me. Without me you would not exist. Remember in your world, you had two children of your own? You loved your children with everything you had. If you had to, you would have given your life for them. That’s how much I love you my child. I did give my life for you and for the whole world, if they chose to accept it. Many did, but many did not."
"When I saw the mass destruction that sin had done to humanity, I had to do something. Oh I knew what it would take. I even gave shadows of what it would be in the Old Testament of my word. Because of sin, there was no one in the entire world that was holy and without sin. So in order for humanity to be reconciled back unto me, I had to do it myself. I did not want to destroy all humanity and create new people. So that is why I saved your older brother Noah and his family during the flood."
"I knew that because of the power of choice, that there would be a countless number of people that would choose to serve me and love me. I knew that they would have a change of heart and turn away from sin and begin to live for me. Due to the fall of Adam and Eve, all of humanity was born into sin. No one could come home to be with me until they were cleansed from their sin."
"So that is when I wrapped myself in a robe of flesh and came upon the earth through the virgin birth of Mary, and became the man Jesus Christ. It was still me, for as you know I am the only God, there are no other gods before me or after me. But this time, I was just as human as you, but at the same time I was still God also. I had to do it. There had to be a sacrifice given from the shedding of blood for the remission of all sin. That is why I gave my human life in the body of Jesus Christ, as the sacrifice for the world. But as a Spirit, I live for all eternity."
"All those who will accept me as their saviour,I will in no wise cast out. But those who do not, are cast into outer darkness for all eternity. My son, true love goes deeper than your carnal mind can comprehend."
"That is why I loved you no matter what you did in your world. As long as you held on and continued to persevere toward perfection and holiness, I continued to strengthen you. When you let up and lost your way at times, I had to allow things into your life, so that it would lead you back to me through a fresh spirit of repentance never gave up on you my child. No matter how it appeared at times, I never turned my back on you."
"Father, I understand now why you called me and saved me. It is because of love."
"Yes my son, it is love.
Oct 30 & Nov 2,1997