And God took the risk



AND GOD TOOK THE RISK …..

Mario D’Couto

            Human freedom is perhaps the most precious gift that God has given to humanity. If we were not free, we would be no better than puppets in the hands of a puppeteer. It is thus because of this that we are able to accept or reject Him. Imagine how God must have felt when He created you and me? There is no doubt that He has a specific plan for our lives but that does not mean He will force us. He will, at the most, suggest but He will never force. This is the risk that God took.

            Whatever the Lord God created was good and He wishes all things to be united in Him. In the mind of God, He wanted everything to achieve the purpose for which it was created. Yet, in as much as He is the sole Author and Creator of everything, He never forces. One interesting analogy that I can think of in this regard is when a boy wants to tell a girl that he likes or loves her, he is nervous and shy (of course there can be exceptions to this). He does not know how to express his love. There are two things that can happen,

1.      If he tells her and she reciprocates, then that becomes the starting point for a relationship.
2.      If he tells her and she does not reciprocate, it is but obvious that a relationship has not been established.

            For a relationship to be meaningful, the first and the most important thing is that it should work both ways. A relationship can never be a one-way traffic. Applying this in the context of God’s relationship with us, He is always telling us that He loves us and that we are special to Him. But if we don’t respond, then we cannot really call it a relationship. This of course does not mean to say that God is lonely. It only implies that we all were created by God so that He could express His love to us but how many of us can give time for that is the question. I remember once sharing with a priest about a relationship problem and this was what he told me, “Thank God for the experience for if you did not have the experience, you would not know what it means to fall in love with God or to experience His love in a deeper way.” I guess the relationship between a couple and the relationship between us and God is a lot similar. In the letter of St. James, it is written, “Come close to God and He will come close to you” (James 4:8). If you treat God only like a miracle worker, it is like approaching someone only when you want something or worse, treating God like a ‘vending – machine’. During that time, a person could make all kinds of promises but if one has received what has asked for in prayer, it could happen that he or she may forget God after he or she has received the blessings they asked for in prayer and what is worse is that some people even blame God for the things that they don’t have in life, which is very sad.

            It is thus that I say, “God took the risk …” because He knows we are weak and that there are enough and more occasions where we could hurt Him. Yet His love is unconditional and His love has no end and time and again, He keeps giving us chances hoping that we will come back to Him, for love can never be forced. It has to be reciprocated freely.

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