«l will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him». Hosea 14:4
P. D. EAST, the agnostic editor of an anti-Christian newspaper, once asked Will Campbell, professor of theology and one of the main advocates for civil rights in the United States in the 1960s, «In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?» Campbell replied: «We are all bastards but God loves us anyway.»
Shortly after that incident, Jonathan Daniels, one of Campbell’s friends, was murdered by Thomas Coleman, an Alabama police officer who refused to accept equal rights for Blacks and whites. Once again, P. D. East met with Campbell and confronted him: «If we are all bastards, was your friend Daniels a bastard?» Campbell replied, «Yes, he was.» East charged again: «And his murderer, Mr. Coleman, was another bastard, wasn’t he?» Campbell replied, «Of course.» Then looking at him in the eye, East asked him a final question: «Which one of these two bastards do you think God loves the most?»*
What do you think you would have replied? Campbell himself confessed he found it hard to accept God could love, forgive, and redeem someone who had entered a store and cut short the life of a defenseless being. It’s crazy for God to love us despite our wickedness, but that is what the Bible teaches! God loves us without showing favoritism.
At a time in which the nation was suffering from a deadly spiritual disease, God promised, «l will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely» (Hosea 14:4). The prophet is talking about a spontaneous, free-will, unconditional love. That is how God’s love is.
In one of the most beautiful statements found in her writings, Ellen G. White says, «All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue cannot utter it; pen cannot portray it.»» And that love, that unlimited ocean of grace, is enough to forgive all of us bastards.
www.meditacionesdiarias.com
http://www.faceboock.com/meditacionesdiariass
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.meditacionesdiarias.mobile
Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Avineyda Hernández
