God is Reasonable

The almighty God who created all things is beyond all reason due to His omnipotence and power, and yet He is also most reasonable.  Caricatures of God set forth by unbelievers portray Him as being ridiculously unreasonable, easily infuriated, carried away with violence, being unjust and brutal.  This is merely a projection of the worst of man's natural tendencies, and none of these are remotely accurate of who God has revealed Himself to be in the Bible and by the Person of Jesus Christ.  People have done horrid and wicked things in the name of God, but they were not God.  God's holy name ought not be dragged through the mud because evil people claimed to be doing His will--when in reality they acted according to their own wicked desires.

God never makes unreasonable demands of people, for He supplies wisdom and strength for all who trust in Him.  God gave Adam freedom to eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden (including the tree of life) and told him not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden.  Adam was plainly warned that should he eat of that tree, he would surely die.  God created Adam and made him a living soul because He desired Adam to live and have enduring fellowship with Him.  Disobedience to the holy God is sin, and sin would bring certain death.  Even as a father or mother warns their child of danger and seeks to protect them, God warned Adam of the consequences of eating from that one particular tree.  When Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit, it was they who were being unreasonable in light of God's revelation.

When God spoke to the children of Israel through His word and the prophets, He did not have unreasonable expectations of them.  God did not require anything that we do not expect of our own children.  He said, "...Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you." (Jeremiah 7:23)  The bar was set quite low, for God wanted His people to listen to Him, obey Him and receive correction when they erred.  He did not demand perfection, for that would be unreasonable given our sinful state.  God did not insist they do His will without ever telling them what pleased or displeased Him.  He did not trick or trap a soul.  God spoke using words they could understand and that they agreed to do--except rebelled and disobeyed.  They were the unreasonable ones, assuming the all-knowing God did not know how corrupt they were or the omnipotent God could not discipline them.  Seeing God had revealed Himself by His creation of the world, His mighty works and in writing, God's people were most unreasonable to imagine they could fool Him.

Romans 12:1 says to God's people, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."  Since God has revealed Himself in the Person of Jesus, demonstrated His love by dying on the cross, proved His power over sin and death by rising from the dead, pardoned us sinners, declared us righteous and granted us eternal life as His redeemed children, it is entirely reasonable we present our bodies a living sacrifice to God.  It is reasonable for us to avoid sin that brought death and choose to live in the manner that is acceptable and pleasing to God.  It is reasonable we present ourselves to God as His obedient servants, but we are the unreasonable ones in our relationship.  We must be born again to begin to be reasonable--made new creations by faith in Jesus--and we must learn to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit who fills, gifts and makes us spiritually fruitful.  As little children learn to reason, it is reasonable we as children of God learn to align our thoughts and lives with His wisdom.