When we have someone we identify as an enemy, the last thing we want is for them to become family. We will do what we can to convince the person bringing them into the family that they are not the right person for them. If that doesn’t succeed, we will distance ourselves from them. While this seems logical, it is not how God operates. His goal is to bring us, his enemies, close to Him and into the family.
In Romans 5:10, Paul calls us enemies. The word enemies in the Greek language means to hate. That seems to be a strong feeling to apply to how we feel about God, but if we are not His, then we are against Him. These are the only two views that God applies to us. We are either for Him, saved and living according to His will, or we are living for ourselves and against Him. You may say, “I’m not a Christian, but I’m not against God.” You may think that, but you are deceived. In Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The word mammon was a Syriac word that referred to the idol of riches of this world. Anything we put between us and God is our idol. If we are not for God and with God, we are against Him by default. II Corinthians 4:4 teaches there are only two choices: we are either serving the god of this world, Satan, or we are serving Jehovah God. You will spend eternity with one or the other, but it is your choice.
Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
II Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
While God loves us even when we do not love Him, His desire is for us to reciprocate that love. Romans 5:8 teaches us that He commendeth, or demonstrated, His love for us while we were still sinners. Sinners are God’s enemies. God is holy and cannot be in the presence of sin. Yet, God loved us and wanted a relationship with us. In I John 4:10, we have the greatest expression of love. We, in our sinful state, could do nothing that would deserve sacrificial love. Yet, the greatness of God’s love gave His own perfect Son to pay for our sins so we could be qualified to enter into the presence of God. It was a benevolent love. Nothing about us was seeking Him. While in our sinful state as His enemy, He sent His Holy Spirit to draw us to Him. Our relationship with Him must be initiated by Him, not us. In John 6:44, we cannot come to Him and become part of His family unless He draws us to Him.
John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
I John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
God made all the concessions to bring us into His family. In Romans 5:10 and Colossians 1:21, God reconciled us to Himself. He made it possible for His enemies to become His family. He extended the royal scepter to sinful enemies, mere peasants who had no desire to serve Him. He seeks underserved, self-absorbed people to become children of the King. While many of His enemies will respond to that seeking with a positive submission to Him, most will not.
Colossians 1:21 “And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.”
Have you been made a part of the family? Don’t assume you’re a part because of some prayer you said or good works, those do not qualify us. We must repent, turn away from our sins, and turn to Him as our Lord and Savior. To be our Lord means that He is our Master; we submit to His authority in all areas of our lives. Satan will make you think this is a restrictive life or that you can do it anytime, but he is wrong. It is the most freeing life you will ever live. You will be free from the slavery to sin that dwells within every human. You can only come to God through Jesus and only when the Holy Spirit draws you. His desire is for you to join the family, but it is your choice. This is the most important decision you will ever make, and only you can make it for yourself. Choose Him, and you will have eternal life as a member of God’s family in Heaven. Refuse Him, and you will suffer His wrath as His enemy forever in Hell. I pray you join our family while you have time.
John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
