In Defense of the Faith

In Defense of the Faith

Isn’t the Importance God Gives Man Preposterous?

Question: In comparison with the almost infinite reaches of the cosmos surrounding us, this planet that man calls home is but an infinitesimal speck of dust. In view of that fact, it seems the height of absurdity and self-importance (rather than the humility that Christians are supposed to embody) for such insignificant microbes to boast that God loves them and even came to this earth to become one of them and to die for their sins! Doesn’t such a preposterous scenario seem the height of absurdity?

Response: On the contrary, God’s love would not be genuine if He bestowed it upon us because we were so important as to merit it. In fact, love cannot be merited. It is the very nature of love to bestow itself upon the unworthy. This is difficult for the average person to comprehend today because of the popular acceptance of the deceitful Hollywood idea of love. One “falls in love” and just as readily “falls out of love” with that person and then “in love” with another person. This is not the love that the Bible presents.

If God’s love for me were predicated upon how lovable, attractive, or worthy of His love He presently found me, I would feel insecure indeed. Being far from perfect, and subject to change, I would be fearful that I might change in some way that would cause God to love me no longer. But since my relationship to Him depends upon His love and faithfulness and unchangeableness and not upon my love or my appeal to Him, I am at peace. I have perfect assurance that His love for me will never wane and that I am secure in my relationship to Him eternally.

Moreover, our puny insignificance in relation to the vastness of the universe only makes God’s grace and mercy all the more worthy of our praise and gratitude and thus all the more glorious. The more unworthy the object of love, the greater and purer must be the love that embraces it.

Throughout the vastness of the universe we see God’s attention to the smallest detail, whether it be the design of a snowflake or the interior of an atom. Though He is infinite in might and knowledge and wisdom, nothing is too small for God’s consideration. It is far from ludicrous or presumptuous for a Christian to believe that God loves him and sent His Son to die for him. On the contrary, that fact rings true to the character of God as we would expect Him to be, as the Bible depicts Him, and as the universe reflects Him.

—An excerpt from In Defense of the Faith (pp. 144-45) by Dave Hunt