The Difference Between Want & Have

"In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on this earth?" (Luke 18: 2-10)

What's the difference between wanting to do something and having to do something? Have you ever thought about it? The difference is eternal. The difference is heart and that's what Jesus is always after. That's why he told this story in the first place (Luke 18:1). There's a huge difference between loving your wife because you  exchanged vows 15 years ago and wanting to love your wife every day. One is begrudging obedience and the other is genuine love. Unconditional love. The widow in the story got justice from the unrighteous judge, but how did she get it? The judge was tired of her bothering him and was scared that she would eventually beat him down by her continual coming (Luke 18:5). Why does the means matter if you still get the end in which you came for? The means are what really matter. Please see this.

Jesus & the Judge

Some of you are very much like the unrighteous judge. Your relationship with Jesus consists of the same 2 things that the judge's relationship with the widow consisted of

1. Annoyance
2. Fear

Now I know you would never say I follow Jesus Christ because I'm annoyed with him and scared of him, but just because you wouldn't say it doesn't mean we don't live like it. We go to church and hear all these commands about do this and don't do that. We don't like Jesus stepping into our lives, but everyone else is doing it and we want to be good, upstanding, moral citizens. And this annoyance is boosted even more by fear because everyone is scared to death of death. We know that Jesus can get us to heaven so we have no love for Jesus, but we're very scared of hell. There is an eternal difference between people who love Jesus for more of Him and people who love Jesus to escape hell. Just like there's an eternal difference between the unrighteous judge and our heavenly Father. 

What's the Difference?

The difference lies between wanting to do something and having to do something. The unrighteous earthly judge feels backed into a corner. He feels obligated and has to do this for the widow. At the end of the story, Jesus brings in the magnificent heavenly Father who isn't obligated toward anyone (Acts. 17:24-25). God doesn't owe anyone anything, but eternal damnation for their constant sin and rebellion against Him.  He doesn't even owe us the little things such as delicious bites of food or fits of laughter, let alone the big things like eternal life in His son. We can't give God anything because he owns it all. Every bit of the universe and all you see are already His. He created it all. At the end of the day, the widow gets justice both from the unrighteous judge and God, but the how changes everything. How'd she get it? One she had to beg and knock on the door and keep coming back. The other came to her, knocked over her door of sin and unbelief by sending His son who wanted to give up his life for us. He wasn't forced to the cross (John 10:18). God didn't have to save you, but he wanted to. Jesus didn't have to die for you, but he wanted to you. That's love folks. That difference between want and have is everything. Don't lose heart. Jesus wanted to save you and that means he loves you.