NOVEMBER 2007 The Miracle of Restraint “God made Himself weak for one purpose: to let human beings choose freely for themselves what to do with Him. Omnipotence that can lay its hand so heavily upon the world can also make its touch so light that the creature receives independence. The signs the Pharisees demanded, the final proofs I yearn for—these would offer no serious obstacle to an omnipotent God. More amazing is His refusal to perform and to overwhelm. God’s terrible insistence on human freedom is no absolute that He granted us the power to live as though He did not exist, to spit in His face, to crucify Him. Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason He created us.” From The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey |