God Loves Everyone ... Right? (Maybe Not)

Read: Acts 12:20-25

God Loves Everyone… Right?

“Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.” (v.23)

Have you heard it said, “Jesus / God loves everyone, no matter what”? When I read passages such as Acts 12:20-25, I wonder about this idea. I am not so sure God loves everyone the same amount or in the same way. I realize this will be offensive to some people, but I am more concerned with wrestling towards the truth.

We have already looked at this before in these devotions, but to recap; those who are in Christ Jesus are God’s “favorites”… they are the ones upon whom God’s favor rests. (Jesus is God’s “favored one”… God’s favorite… we are “in Christ” so we receive that “favor”. cf. Luke 2:40,52, 3:12, 4:19, Matt 3:17,12:18, 17:5 Mark 1:11) I would think it odd to declare that God’s love is the same for those who are his as compared to those who are not. His love motivates his calling and drawing people to himself… but it does not seem as though everyone is called or drawn in the same manner. It is true that, for those who are in Christ NOTHING can separate us from the Love of God: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39) But what about those who are not “in Christ Jesus our Lord”? Is God’s disposition towards them affected by their actions? Does God truly “love” them? And if so, is it in the same way… the same amount… no matter their actions?

Look at Hared. An evil man. An antagonist towards John The Baptist. (He had him beheaded!) Arrestor and jailer of Peter in an effort to manipulate the Jews. Murderer of James (the brother of John). In all these actions, God did not strike him dead. Was this because of his “love” for him? Was it because of his “patience” with him? His mercy? It wasn’t until he came out before the people and “and delivered an oration to them” that he got in trouble. (v.21) They began to declare that he was speaking as a god and not as a man. In that moment, “he did not give God the glory”. (v.23) What happened? : “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down…and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.” (v. 23) Could you imagine telling Herod that “Jesus loved him no matter what and didn’t care about his actions”? Doesn’t seem to fit does it? God seemed to care whether or not Herod “gave him the glory”.

My Dad sent me a quote this week. It is one I had read before from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It was his comment on what allows a community to fall into deep despair, and allow for some of the greatest atrocities we have seen in recent centuries. His explanation: ”It was (is) the teaching of cheap grace…Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” It is a humbling honor to be favored and loved by God. It is a blessing that we can find great rest and solace in. But we should remember, even being struck dead is not necessarily a sign of being outside of God’s love. (Look at Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5, 2 Believers who are struck dead… and Romans 8 tells us that they were not separated from the love of God.) Hebrews 11 does speak about how to “please God”, and this means that it is possible to NOT be pleasing to him. May we never cheapen the gift of Christ. May we never confuse our salvation with our sanctification or our glorification! What we do with our lives matters! I would not want to find myself on the wrong side of the Lord. It must have been a spectacle for those people… claiming Herod was a god… and then watching him fall over dead and be “eaten by worms” right there in front of them! Love you guys. JDP