A Reason For God

As a reporter I quote individuals and occasionally they will say, “I know that is what I said, but that is not what I meant.” A pastor tried to explain physical affliction and said, “If we had no more suffering and pain, we wouldn’t have a reason for God.” While I understand what the pastor was trying to say, the words he spoke were not what he meant. Our need for God is not based on physical suffering and pain, but rather on love. John said, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10 NIV).