A Second Chance Love Story

By Eli Lee

July 1, 2020

For those of you who like love stories and second chances, you will want to read this incredible love story. It is the greatest love story ever told!

God created the heavens and the earth and everything that was in them, and He saw that it was good—because everything worked just the way that He programmed it to work.

Then, He created humans in His own image, and gave them free will. He loved them and gave them free will because He wanted them to choose for themselves to love Him, not just love Him because He programmed them to do so.

To illustrate, here is an example: A certain man programmed his computer to say, "I love you, Daddy," whenever he walked into the room. The same man had a child who truly loved him, and would look him in the eyes whenever he entered the room and say, "I love you Daddy." Which one do you think affected the man's heart the most?

In the same way that this man made his computer say and do what he commanded, so God made all of the rest of His creation. All of the animals, the plants, the trees, the oceans, the earth, and the entire universe obey the commands that God gives them. They have all been obeying Him perfectly for thousands of years. He has plenty of programmed worship. He desired for the beings that He made to look like Himself to make their own choice to love Him.

God created a heavenly place for them on the earth and provided them with everything that they needed. He walked with them and talked with them in the Spirit. His desire was that they would choose to love Him, because He knew that if they loved Him, they would also do what He told them.

God gave them one command, and told them that the consequences for disobedience was death. They didn't have a problem keeping that command, until they were tempted to question God's word. Satan told them a secret on how to become like God (which was a lie). In order to receive what Satan promised, they had to disobey God's command. With that temptation, they had to make a decision whose word they would believe.

God had put in them a desire to be more like their Father, just like He puts into every child's heart a desire to be like their daddy. This desire was not a bad thing. The real issue was, whose word would they believe?

We know the story. They chose poorly. They chose to believe the deceiver’s word over the word of their Father, who created them and gave them life. Their bad choice had staggering consequences! Not only did they die a spiritual death that day, they would now also have to die a physical death, because God, in his mercy, didn't want them to stay in that horrible state for eternity.

Because they chose to believe Satan's word over God's, they were now doomed to go with Satan to hell. It was the most hopeless day of all time for the human race. Why didn't they just believe God? He had such great and awesome plans for them!

God's heart was broken. He had given His beloved creation free will so they would love Him by their own choice, but they chose to doubt Him and believed Satan instead. Satan was God's enemy, and had already received his sentence for his rebellion against God. Because of this, he was extremely angry at God, and jealous that the humans were loved by Him. In his cunning craftiness, he had gotten the humans to side with him, and by doing so, he also stole the dominion over the whole world and everything that was in it away from man. It was a dark day, with absolutely no hope for the human race. They had chosen death instead of life.

God still loved the humans even though they had made this horrendous mistake, because He made them in His own image. He was not willing to let them perish with Satan. He wanted to give them another chance to choose life, but He had already told them that if they disobeyed Him, the consequences would be death. Because God is a just God, he could not simply overlook the error. He had to deal with it the way He had established it. How could He possibly give them another chance, since the verdict was disobedience equals death?...... It had to be death.

The Son of God, being full of love and mercy, seeing the heart wrenching sadness of His Father, and also not being willing that all people would be lost, said, "I will go and die for them. I will pay the price for their sin, so that You can dwell with them forever." But, the law of the Father was that the humans had committed the crime, so the humans would have to pay the penalty.

They devised a plan. God would send the Son, by the Holy Spirit, and impregnate a human virgin. She would carry His seed and bear Him a Son. The Son of God would now also be the son of a human, which would qualify Him to be the sacrifice for the sins of humans. He would live His life on earth without sin, and carry out all the commandments of God without fault, and then give His life as a sacrifice, even unto death, to pay the penalty for the sins of all humanity.

"But since humans have free will, what if they still choose to listen to Satan and You suffer and die for nothing?" was the question. "Surely, at least some will repent and love You more than Satan," said the Son. "Even if only one of them chooses You, I am willing to do it for You, Father."

The Father was very pleased with the Son for being willing to make a way for the humans that He loved so much to come to Him. He promised the Son that He would then raise Him back to life and bring Him back into heaven. He would make the Son a throne right next to His, by His right hand, to be the High Priest and advocate for all humans. The deal was signed and sealed, and the promise of a Savior was given to Adam and Eve and their offspring. Now there was a second chance!

God taught Adam and Eve that whoever believed this promise of a Savior would need to sacrifice an animal that had no blemish or defect to show that they believed His promise. From that time forward, everyone who chose to love God strove to obey Him, and made the sacrifices as He commanded, believing that the ultimate Sacrifice, the promised Savior, would one day pay for their disobedience and sins against God. This was in effect until God did send the Son as the Savior, like He promised. He lived His life on this earth without sin, and then gave His righteous life as a sacrifice to pay the price for the sins of humans.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did come and fulfill that promise— to release us from the bondage and slavery of Satan. He is the only Savior of mankind! Jesus said that He would give eternal life to whoever loves the Father and believes in Him as the Savior. This eternal life does not start when we die physically. It begins whenever we choose to believe in Jesus and surrender our life to Him. John 11:25-26 says: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?“

This is a mystery which seems like foolishness to those who don't believe. It can only be understood by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Unless we choose to open our mind to God and  what He  wants  to tell us, we will never understand, and we will perish in our sins...even though the penalty has already been paid.

When we realize that we have been disobedient to God, and that there is no way  that we can save our selves from the consequences of sin (eternal damnation), and  hear how much God loves us and  to what great lengths He went to make a way for us to be united with Him, the Holy Spirit draws us to come closer. If we heed His beckoning and open our mind and heart to learn more, He will teach us many things. Whenever we choose to believe God, and put our faith in Jesus Christ, He will take our burden of sin and cast it away, because He has already paid the price for it.

When we repent from our rebellion of being disobedient to God and surrender our life to Jesus Christ, making Him the Lord of it, He puts His Holy Spirit in our heart and gives us eternal life. When we surrender our screwed-up life to Him and He exchanges it with His Holy life, it becomes possible for the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts, because we now have the heart of Christ, which is pure.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

He then seals it with the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). When this earthly body dies, His Spirit will carry our spirit to the presence of the Father as one of His.  “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:22). That is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

When we were born, it was this physical body of ours that was born. The second birth is a spiritual birth. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6).  

If we are not born of the Holy Spirit, we are still in our sin, and will have to pay the penalty for it. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

The only way we can be born of the Holy Spirit is if we don't have sin. The only way we don't have sin is if we believe, accept the sacrifice that Jesus paid for our sins, and surrender to Him as our Lord.

If you desire to know more about being born again, let's walk through this together.

1) Do you believe God?  If you believe God, that means you believe everything that He has said in His word, including “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23), and “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

2) Did you know that God loves you and went to that extent to make a way for you to be with Him?

3) Do you love God? 1^st John 5:3 says  that if you love God, you will obey His commands. This is a pretty good indication as to whether you love Him or not. 

4) Who is going to pay for your disobedience to God? You or Jesus?

If you choose to pay for it yourself, you will do so and spend eternity in hell with Satan. However, if you want the price that Jesus paid for your disobedience to apply to your life, there are a few things that you need to understand. If you want His atonement for your sins, you will need to give up (or surrender) your life to Him in exchange for His righteousness. You cannot continue to live your life as you please and receive His righteous life (redemption). You have to be willing to give up your agenda and be willing to be obedient to His. “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). He never said He would repair our life and make it better, but that He would transform our life by giving us a new life in Him, by His Holy Spirit.

He will only give the new life, eternal life, to those who confess their sins, are willing to repent from them (remember the free will), give up their life to Him, and honor Him as their Lord. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

God's desire is  that we choose to love Him. He desires to live with every one of us forever and ever. He knows that if we choose to love Him, we will also believe in the sacrifice of His Son for the penalty of our disobedience to Him, and we will take advantage of the second chance He have given to us.

I'm sure Satan has cried, "Foul!" and, "It's not fair!" I'm glad that liar and hater doesn't get to make the rules for me. I have a loving Father who created me and saved me from my own folly by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. He gets to say what happens with me, because I have given myself to Him to be His slave! He loves me and calls me ‘son,’ and I love Him and call Him ‘Daddy.’ I am grateful for a second chance! If we choose to forfeit the beckoning of such great and unfathomable love yet again, our loving Creator has no choice but to honor our decision to spend eternity in hell with Satan, because He will not violate our free will that He gave to us.

Think about your choices today. Have you, like Eve, been caused to question God's Word? Have you been promised fulfillment in something other than in God Himself? If you have, you've been lied to, whether you realize it yet or not. This story gives only a glimpse of how much God loves you and what He was willing to do for you in hopes that you would choose Him over Satan and your own desires. If you have not done so yet, choose life today! Do not continue to choose death! Your choices matter!

Like Adam and Eve's choice affected their offspring, your choices will also not only affect you, but your descendants after you as well. “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6).

Our choices make a difference in this life, and in our life ever after.

-By Eli Lee

 

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