These words from Jesus on John 8:32 of the Holy Bible have impacted my life; and still is today.
God's love is freely given to us. God is so powerful that He can destroy this world He created if He decides to wipe us all out of this planet. He once did. God is a destroyer of sin. He loves the people He created but sins overcome the whole being of His creation, each one of them.
That's why God is willing to have an intimate relationship with us. He is willing to guide our path all throughout our life so we can avoid the pitfalls as we travel this world. There are plenty of traps, most especially the invisible ones that can expose us and destroy us eventually. Just look around us today. Better yet, read the nation's news and the international news. Sinful nature of man is so clearly visible. Sins are running amok. They're deadly that few can survive the consequences. Sin can affect us physically and internally. There's no escape. Sin is like a plague- highly infectious and easily transmitted to anyone who is vulnerable to it. When we are emotionally weak and cannot control the mind and the heart, we become our own body's enemy.
Since most of the world's population are not willing to seek God, people get destroyed because of their ignorance. Even the ones we thought are highly intellectual with their self righteous man made wisdom are not immuned. I believe they're the ones who get the worse outcomes in regards to sin.
When Jesus was on earth two thousand years ago, the truth that would set us free from the snare of sin is what He brought with Him from heaven to teach us. The Roman empire at that time had seized most of the old European nations including the middle east; and this was the time when God came to earth, in the person of Jesus Christ, and in the small country known now as Israel.
God saw that the earth is empowered by human sinfulness again after the flood in Noah's days. Sin was running amok once more that lingered until now. God knew sin will never go away in this world He created. Sin will continue to dominate this world, until such time when He ends evil in this world once and for all.
Sin is self-centeredness in true form- love of self and we are all guilty of it. Self-centeredness is the cause of all the ills of the world. Wars, murder, adultery/lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, pride and envy and many more sins, start in self-centeredness.
In His teaching, Jesus emphasized that in all the commandments given by God, the greatest and foremost of them is to love God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. And then Jesus said that second greatest command of God is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
If you think about it, we can never love people the way God loves humans. If we hope to have peace in this world, that is an impossible task as people are engrossed in doing what is good for them and nobody else. Therefore, this world is doomed as peace in every sense of the world and unconditional love for another are out of the question.
That is why Jesus said to love God with all our hearts, souls and minds is the cornerstone of all the commandments of God. Without the love for God in our lives, this world will continue to deteriorate based on our sinful nature. If we try to seek and know God on our own, our effort is futile. God will never reveal His true self without us knowing and following Jesus first. Without Jesus, our knowledge of God are all hearsays. Without the unconditional love and worship for God, He is separated from us and seems very distant, unforgiving and an angry God.
Not until we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, our life here on earth is full of self-wants that would eventually would lead us lonely, depressed and ill-fated human beings.
That is why Jesus said that He was on earth two thousand years ago to show us the way and give us life abundantly here on earth and an eternal life after death. Knowing Him will be like living waters flowing inside of us as we learn God's true nature and His wisdom on how to live based on God's will and purposes for our life which are all good for us and in such time when we join Him in heaven.
That is why Jesus said that we can only see God and His Kingdom when we leave this earth only through Him. That is why Jesus said to know and follow Him and His teachings will set us free from what this dark world is teaching to make us stay in the dark and remain there and He said that staying in darkness has a worst price to pay after death. He warns us that there is a second eternal death when we don't have love for God. Jesus calls it Hades. Jesus spoke of this place many, many times in His teachings.
That is why Jesus wants to save us from Hades. What Jesus offers is redemption from our sins and salvation to eternal life. Jesus said that although we will all die and leave this world, His saving grace will give us an abundant eternal life in His Father's God Kingdom which is heaven where Jesus also resides.
