Prone to Love (3) - The Conversation

I ran into a friend the other day at Starbucks. I was leaving and she was just arriving. It didn’t take long however, before we both found a seat, as our conversation was invaded by Gods always good love.

After quick hellos, our discussion stumbled into a topic much debated at church water coolers across the US. She wanted to know my thoughts regarding a controversial Christian book that had recently released. I hadn’t read the book at the time, so I had no opinion on its content. But I sure loved the title…

I told her so. Then, almost as an aside, she asked, “Are you writing anything controversial these days?”

“Not in my opinion.” I laughed, “That said, I have discovered that many Christians find one of my messages to be controversial.” Having missed out on the first controversy she was game for a new one. “What is it,” she asked smiling.

"Did you know that both you and I are prone to love Him, we are righteous, we are inherently good, holiness is in our DNA?”

I watched her face as I spoke. By the time I was finished telling her how amazing we were, I could tell that we had found something “controversial” to talk about. I was excited, its always fun to tell someone how God sees them.

I laughed, “You don’t believe me, do you?”

She smiled, “Well, I guess… I have always been taught that we have a sinful nature… What do you mean by prone to love Him?”

That’s when I told her about my grandmother. Then, because she didn’t know my grandmother, I threw a few scriptures in to make it legal.

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)”

And

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)

And

“Anyone who is a child of God does no sin, because he still has God's seed in him; he is not able to be a sinner, because God is his Father.” (1st John 3:9)

And

…put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

I continued, “When we said yes to Jesus, our old sinful nature died with Him on the cross. The old self, or the old things, has passed away; they’re dead. We are now new creations in Christ; we are “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Over the next half hour I shared about how our heavenly Father always looks at us through the lens of Jesus’ death and resurrection and therefore He always likes what He sees. Not only does He look at us through His Son, He has invited us to agree with Him regarding how He sees us.

While we may often feel like spirituals dwarfs, He sees us as spiritual giants. While we may occasionally act like sinners, He still treats us like saints. While we may be convinced we are prone to wander, He believes we are prone to love. I think the journey all believers are on is a journey like that of my grandmother. We live to discover our Fathers love and become transformed until one day we can agree with
God not just about His nature but also about our own.

I could see as I talked that she was becoming both excited and also a little nervous. She was excited because just maybe it was true, and if so, it was wonderfully good news. She was nervous because, well, she has lived a long time with herself…