God is the God of all true believers, and He is the God of all unbelievers. The difference is the unbelievers do not yet know God as their God. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In the terms of the bride of Christ; before we accepted the engagement, Christ lived as though we were already the bride. Christ was faithful to a bride who was not only unfaithful, but to a bride not yet the betrothed in her own eyes. Jesus Christ then died to give an un-betrothed bride her inheritance. God is the God of all unbelievers.
It is at the cross that we learn what God has done for us, and to what length His love will go to ensure our engagement to Christ. Early on the resurrection morning we hear His voice call out, as He calls to Mary and she turns to recognizes the Risen Christ Jesus. It is then we see the One who has chased after us from heaven to earth and from life to death and to life again. That is the gospel we have been told to share with the testimony of our word. ”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
In His departing message Jesus asked us to continue to seek the lost. Earlier in His walk on earth He said, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Jesus came to do the work of the Father, and was anointed to open blind eyes. God is the God of the unbeliever, and sent His Son to open their eyes so they can see God as God. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
In our blindness we do not see the things of God as good. When our eyes are first open, it takes us time to start letting go of the things we held onto in the darkness. Because God loved us in our blindness, it is easy to say we can remain blind with our eyes open and continue to hold on to the darkness. But it should not be so. Once our eyes are open to His faithfulness we should start to be faithful. God has been faithful, but it takes us time to see the faithfulness and to start to return faithfulness with faith. Once we know the love of God, our desire should be to stop walking in our blindness to His love and to return love.
God is the God of all true believers, and He is the God of all unbelievers. The difference is the unbelievers do not yet know God as their God. As believers we are called to walk in His love and to be a banner for His faithfulness. The unopened eye will not see the banner, nor will they see the love of God through us anymore than they see the love of God from Him. There needs to be a change in us, so we can show the quality of Christ and walk in faithful love towards the blind until their eyes are opened by the anointing. God is the God of all unbelievers, but the believer cannot continue to walk like unbelievers forever.
© 2012, Tim D. Coulter Sr.