What Is Your Will In Christ?

I posted something on a social site this morning, but my thoughts around it wouldn't leave me. That usually happens when there was more to be said that I didn't say. So here it is... Have you ever wondered why God dealt so harshly with the nations that He told Israel to destroy in the Old Testament? I think that particular subject gives some people a little trouble when it comes to their personal understanding of God, but I think at least part of the answer is found here: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD . It is because the other nations have done...

The sum of mankind's greatest knowledge, wisdom and understanding merely reaches the very edge of the vastness of that belonging to God. God could easily speak to mankind in riddles too far beyond man's ability to grasp, but our Creator's not a vengeful God consumed with a hope of destroying all of mankind that He created, so carefully and lovingly, with a desire to share life with. He's a loving and endless Creator taken with an opportunity to offer forgiveness toward what He holds dear - but He's also completely righteous, completely holy and completely just. This means that He can't tolerate uncleanness or sin and that justice requires punishment for failing to meet those same standards. Given that, God offered failing mankind a way out. He sent His own Son to suffer and die, taking our punishment, and then raised Him back up to life again. Through this God now offers a simple message of hope with a choice - to repent and embrace His offer of forgiveness - ac...