A wise person has asked us to think about this question: "What difference does it make to God what we think inside of us? Why would God even care what we think? What difference could our private thoughts make to Him?"
We can ask another question: What difference does it make to you what your neighbor may think about you? If you are a hard, harsh, arrogant person, probably, nothing. But if you are a kind, considerate, loving person, it would surely burden you to know that your neighbor sees you as bad, selfish, or unjust, even if he doesn't gossip about you to others. Just the knowledge that in his mind he cherishes these evil thoughts about you must burden you.
Does it hurt God for us to think evil of Him?
It must, because "the carnal mind is enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7), and enmity is incipient murder, says John: "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15). If you were God could you "rest" knowing that there are people who would crucify You all over again? (If He were to come as Christ came 2000 years ago?)
Yes, God longs for "rest," which since sin began on this planet, He has never been able to do. He is burdened 24/7. And He cannot rest until the great controversy between Satan and Himself has come to an end.
We are now living in the grand cosmic Day of Atonement, of which the ancient Levitical Yom Kippur was a symbol. God so loves the world already that He gave His only Son for us, proving that He is reconciled to us; what remains to be done is for us to be reconciled to Him.
Don't resist or stop the Holy Spirit from ministering that final reconciliation to you. He speaks, "Be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:18-20). To find out how He does it, read the rest of the chapter. Let Him turn your attention to what happened on the cross when "He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (vs. 21).
God's heart doesn't need to be changed toward you, but yours needs to be changed toward Him. On this cosmic Day of Atonement, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. Don't "resist our Lord in His office work."
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 6, 2003.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
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