Lessons From Shoe Box Land - Episode 2

Last week I walked into the Operation Christmas Child processing center to begin a four hour shift of wading through the hundreds of thousands of shoe boxes filled with gifts destined for poor children around the globe. We would spend the evening inspecting and cartonizing the gift boxes in preparation for their flight overseas. Hundreds of volunteers were present, working feverishly.

When I saw the sign in sheet my eyes scanned the list of volunteers and the expected duration of their shifts. I was amazed to see that most volunteers had worked eight hours and some as many as ten! Satan took this opportunity to whisper words of condemnation into my ear. 'Only four hours? How lazy are you? That shows how serious you are about sacrificial giving!'

Satan used the opportunity to try to discourage me. He used a weapon that had been successful in the past, the flawed idea that God's love for us is conditional and is based on our performance.

The truth of the matter is that God's love for us is NOT conditional. The hound of heaven loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place, in spite of our sin. The Bible says that 'God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'. (Romans 5:8) Jesus stands at our door and knocks. He is always hoping that we will open the door of our lives to Him.