June 13, 2016 (Monday)
This date is significant for Christianity because on June 13, 313, the Edict of Milan was published, allowing Christians to live at peace with the Roman government. Eventually Christianity would become the state religion, but that would take place many years later. For the time being, Emperor Constantine would be tolerant toward Christians because he feared the Christian God more than he feared the pagan gods of the time.
I am not an authority on the history of those early centuries, but if what I have just written is true, then Constantine was mistaken in his assumption that the Christian God threatens us. By the time the Edict of Milan was issued, the books of the New Testament were in circulation, and those books had a message: “God is love.” The emperor somehow missed out on hearing that.
Our study of the Bible reveals that Jesus taught us to think of God as our father. This was absolutely a new way of thinking of God. When asked to teach his disciples how to pray, he suggested the prayer begin with the words, “Our father in heaven.”
Some people seem to think of God as a terrible tyrant, watching our every move and eager to punish us severely for our sins. When we think of God as our father, we see him as he really is, one who loves us and wants what is best for us.
Although the prophets did not use the term, “father,” they presented God as one who cares about the people of this world. Listen as the prophet pleads in God’s behalf: “Turn, turn for why will you die?” That message is echoed in the New Testament as Peter preaches during Pentesost: “Repent and be saved.”
I remember a sermon by Olin Waldrip, my pastor in Groesbeck, “Roadblocks on the road to hell.” He named several things that God has given us to turn us away from Hell and towards Heaven. Supremely there is John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV).
God loves you. Never doubt that. Never forget that. Accept his gift of love today: receive Christ into your heart as your Savior and Lord.