Once upon a time, there was a wise old uncle who had two nieces. One niece, he had known for her entire life, and even though she had always known him as her uncle, she did not love him. He wanted to be loved and respected by the girl, but instead she turned her back on him. She hated his ways, and decided that she did not want to be his niece, but would rather spend her days happily alone, without a loving uncle to call her own. The uncle was angry at her, because he wanted her to choose him, but he would not force her to love him, to respect or obey him. So he sadly watched her walk out of his life.
But far away lived another little girl, who was lonely, and wished for a family to call her own. One day, she discovered that she had a wise old uncle, and she sought him out. She had not known him her whole life, but she loved him, and when he called her his beloved niece she was happy. She wanted to please him, so she did as he asked, and loved him, and respected him, which is all he ever really wanted. Sometimes when the niece would stray off of the path that the uncle wanted her to stay on, he would chastise her, and she would turn from the things she did that displeased him, not out of fear of what he could do to her, but out of love, because she wanted him to love her, and want her in his life.
Now the Uncle had the power to send her away at any moment, but he didn’t because he loved her. And even though she did the things he wanted, and showed him love and respect, she sometimes still felt sad, because she had missed out on so many years that she could have been with him. She tried to do more and more to please him, wanting him to love her more and more. But his heart was already so full of love for her, that it would never have mattered what she did, he could not love her any more than he did.
But deep down, his heart still hurt for the other niece. The one who had turned her back on him. The one who screamed mean things at him, and walked out of his life. The uncle had two nieces, but only one that wanted to be in his life.
This parable is much like our relationship with God. Some of us have known God from when we were very young. We were born into Christian families, went to church all of our lives and always knew who God was. But we never accepted Him. Or perhaps we did, but as we got older, we turned our back on Him, deciding to go our own way, and do our own thing, away from the loving kindness and forgiveness that He offers us. Perhaps we lost a loved one, and couldn’t understand why God would take someone we loved and needed so much away from us. We got angry. We were hurt, so we blamed the One that we felt was responsible. And we hated Him.
But then supposed someone was not raised in a church, but only came to know God years later. Joyfully we gave our lives and our hearts to Him, wanting only to please Him, and to serve Him with all that we have. Not because we understand that He saved us from hell, but because we love that He chose us to save. We want to do whatever makes Him happy and to obey and respect and love Him, at all times good and bad. We feel bad when we do wrong and disappoint Him, and we want to do better and please Him.
God loves the ones who choose Him, but He also loves the ones who don’t and feels sorrow for the ones who turned their back on all He has to offer. He sits patiently waiting for the one who turned away to turn back, to ask for forgiveness and to want a loving relationship with Him. It doesn’t matter when you were introduced to God. Whether you were nine or ninety. It doesn’t matter how far you got from Him when you were rebelling, or what sins you committed before you knew Him, or after you knew Him. He is patiently waiting for you to come back to Him.
If a loving uncle loves his niece unconditionally, and only wants the best for her, how much more does God love us unconditionally and want only the best for our lives as well.
I pray that all would know the love that God has for them. Regardless to the things you have done. Regardless to how angry you have been at God. Or for your disbelief. I know that people think that the world could not be this messed up if God really existed, but this world is not the realm of God. He is so much better than this place, and He wants us to focus our thoughts and minds on Him, and on heavenly things, rather than the worldly things here below that Satan loves to cause chaos with.
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