Wednesday, 1st Week: God Wants to Forgive and Heal

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." Psalm 51:1-2

    Often hell is portrayed as a place of punishment and heaven a place of   reward. But this concept easily leads us to think about God as either a policeman, who tries to catch us when we make a mistake and send us to prison when our mistakes becomes too big, or a Santa Claus, who counts up all our good deeds and puts rewards in our stockings at the end of the year.

    God, however, is neither a policeman nor a Santa Claus. God does not send us to heaven or hell depending on how we obey or disobey. God is love and only love. In God there is no hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home, But just as the father of the prodigal son let his son make his own decision, God gives us the freedom to refuse divine love, even at the risk of destroying ourselves, Hell is not God's choice. It is ours.

"Which image of God do you bring to prayer and meditation?"
   
Henri Nouwen