Talk Back 1
Jesus pumps me full of love
by Maureen Q
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Hi, I just wanted to respond to some of your views. If you don't believe in God or an afterlife, what is your motivation for being good to others? I am a Christian, but my motivation does not fall into one of your three categories for doing good. I do good because the love God is in my heart. You see, God loves us, and he wants us to love Him back. But love cannot exist without a choice. This earth is where we make our choice. If we choose to love God and follow His commandments on this earth, then we will be able to spend eternity with Him. If we choose to reject Him on this earth, then He will respect our choice, and we will be eternally separated from Him. This is hell. But the fact is, we all deserve hell. We have all sinned and have made, on many occasions, decisions against God's will. But this is the kicker: God loved us so much (even in our sin) that He came down here, put on some flesh (as Jesus), lived a perfect life, and made himself a sacrifice for our sins. So now we can go to heaven and spend eternity with him if we only accept His sacrifice. But when we accept this sacrifice, we are called to live a new life, one free from sin. Now obviously we're not going to all of a sudden be perfect, but once we accept Jesus' sacrifice, God comes into our lives as the Holy Spirit, which shows us the right way and tells us when we do wrong, kind of like a superconscience. The Holy Spirit then leads us to perfection (though never fully attaining it). But this only happens according to how much you want it. If you don't want to grow spiritually (get closer to God), then He won't force Himself upon you. In other words, the only way to get to God is to seek Him. He has made Himself known to all people by, at the very least, showing Himself to us in nature and in love and in all kinds of other stuff. Now the ball's in mankind's court. In the Bible, Jesus says (humor me for a moment), "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will [have fellowship] with him, and he with me." The devil is always going to put a little doubt in you, and you're probably not going to find a physical proof of God. But you will find (if you search your heart) that God is undeniable. Why do certain bad things happen? I don't know, but I do know that God knows. Why do innocent people die? Why do you assume that death is a bad thing? I would love to die, so I can be with God for eternity. This earth is not my home. I'm just passing through. That's why I do good. I'm already going to heaven because I have accepted Jesus' sacrifice for me, but I do good because I want to serve God. I want the God of my salvation to be pleased, just like a son wants to please his father. So what if I suffer! This world hardly exists in the light of eternity!
All this to say that I do good because Jesus pumps me to full of love that love is coming out of my ears, so I have to share it.