IN AN IDEAL WORLD… All people WOULD serve God simply because - TopicsExpress

IN AN IDEAL WORLD… All people WOULD serve God simply because they love and respect Him enough to not do otherwise -- and that is the way God would have it, but He is the first to realize that neither the world nor its people tend to the ideal, so His plan for men deals with them from the level they actually live on. The fact is that ONLY in an ideal world does the “change agent’s” view of grace and redemption “work”. They themselves are immensely “fuzzy” on when this “love alone generates serving God” kicks in (even at what point in the life of a disciple). And it hard to find “love is enough” in what the Bible actually says. It was certainly NOT enough on the day of Pentecost – Peter used “fear” to motivate those there (“You’ve killed the Son of God”!); It wasn’t enough when Paul tried to convert Felix (preaching “judgment to come” was part of his message – Acts 24:25); it wasn’t enough for the man in 1 Cor 5, who needed to be “delivered unto Satan” to rehabilitate him; nor the Corinthians in general, who Paul persuaded by the reminder that in the judgment all will be facing “what is done in the body”, including reminding of “the TERROR of the Lord”…(2 Cor 5:10,11)…Is that from a God who ONLY motivates through love? Or one who only accepts love as a motive? No question that “love” is a nobler motive, and will further strengthen the depth of our obedience, but until that happens, the writer of Hebrews wants us to remember “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:28-29) (acb)