Thoughts

Sometimes I feel like a new Christian. A new believer who knows a lot of bible stories and has heard a lot of sermons. I always felt close to God, but his book has confused the heck out of me most of my life.  I would read it, but I didn't get it. The last few years have been full of aha moments. It's finally coming together in my head as it has always been in my soul.

In Genesis we have the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God wipes out an entire city because of it's grievous sin. Unrepentant sin leads to death, right? God bombed this city and sent all it's inhabitants straight to hell. Is this what we believe? The God who loves us so much that he sent us his son would do this? Wait, there is more. In Matthew, Jesus gets to finish their story. He tells the Jews that if the people of Sodom would have seen these miracles, they would still be a city. He says it will be better for Sodom on the day of judgement than it will be for Capernaum. These are law-abiding, Sabbath-keeping Jews he's talking to.

This begs a question. Does the God who loves us beyond anything we have ever known draw a line in the sand  as soon as we die? When we finally get to see his face does his mercy end? 

What if a man from Sodom arrived at the gates of heaven and was overcome with repentance upon seeing Jesus. What if he realized that he had wasted his life on a lie. Would God have mercy on him? Would he be restored?  I am left wondering if this is what Jesus meant when he talked about how Sodom would have repented had they seen Jesus perform miracles on Earth. He knew this was true because he was there when they saw the miracle of heaven. Knowing Jesus and knowing God, I have to believe that not all were lost.

 For the Lord will not cast off forever ,but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33