A few years ago, I wrote a sermon that resonated with quite a few people, that was entitled, “What If?”

In it, I discussed the fact that many of us continually lament about the past. We seem to dwell on mistakes. What could we have done differently? What could we have changed? The implication is that many of us are unhappy with our lives and wish things were much different. We say things like, “My life would have been so much better if only…”

So, this particular sermon I wrote was a little different in that it wasn’t about what God did for us or about the way Christ came to save us. It was about what our world would have been like if God was totally different than He actually is.

For instance, what if God was One who continually changed His mind? He could say, “I really didn’t mean what I said, or that really wasn’t My final word on that topic…” When He looked at us, he could have said, “I don’t like the way these human being things are working out, let’s try this another way!”

He could have built a system of relativism, a world of no absolutes. No real right or wrong… One minute He could send Jesus into the world to save the world, then the next minute He could say, “No, that’s no good – I’m gonna have Moses come back and lead them to salvation… No, let’s try having everybody pay for their salvation with money… No, how about they work for it and try to earn it with their good deeds?” We would never know where we stood with Him. Did He love us or hate us? We could never live up to His rules because the rules would be like a moving target.

Thank God that He is not like that. The scriptures describe Him as the Rock. Our immovable boulder of strength. More than once, the scriptures tell us that the Lord does not change. In fact, James tells us that in Him (God), “There is no variableness.” He is not fickle; He does not vary or change.

That would be bad enough, but how about if God was selfish? Fortunately we know that’s not true because of the example we have in Jesus. He was the ultimate example of unselfishness. Remember that He intentionally laid His life down for us. No one stole His life; He gave it up! The scriptures say in John, Chapter 15, that “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus could have easily done things differently. He could have called down from heaven a legion of angels to rescue Him and take him down from the cross. But thank God He didn’t. Instead, He even prayed forgiveness for those that nailed Him to the cross. The Greek verb tense used in describing this prayer indicated that Jesus prayed this more than once. We can picture it… As they nailed His hands, “Father forgive them…” As they nailed His feet, “Father forgive them…” As He hung there, “Father forgive them…” As He gasped for breath, “Father forgive them.” What an incredible example of unselfishness! If He had been selfish, we’d all be doomed. We would have no one to depend on for salvation.

What if Jesus was the type that gave up when things got tough? After all, didn’t He pray, “Lord, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me?” (Matthew 26:39) What if He had stopped there? Obviously the thought or the temptation was there. After all, who would want to go through all that was to come? But thank God, Jesus submitted His will. If we keep reading the rest of that verse in Matthew, we see that Jesus humbly proclaimed, “Yet not my will, but Yours (Father) be done.” He was not the type to give up when the going got tough.

What if Jesus had taken up the devil’s offer and worshiped him?! It would have been a shortcut to world domination. He wouldn’t have had to endure the cross. He wouldn’t have had to pay the tough price. He wouldn’t have had to put up with the harassment. After all, everyone wants a peaceful life, right? Many of us feel that life doesn’t cooperate with that desire. We feel that life seems to set up barriers to our happiness. But even if we can’t always control what happens in life, we can control how we react. Fortunately, Jesus reacted by doing what was needed for our benefit. In our lives, we must do the same. We need to choose God’s plan over our own. Even if our plan sounds easier, seems to make more sense, or makes us happier (at the moment). Trying to improve on God’s plan is foolish. That sounds obvious, but we all try to do just that, every day. Think of the consequences if Jesus hadn’t followed God’s way. That would have destroyed the Father’s plan of salvation. We would be forever lost.

Lastly, what if God was a liar? That would set us up for ultimate failure. We would have no one to trust. He could have said, “Let there be light,” but it would still be dark, or “Rise and be healed,” but we’d still be sick. Happily, our God is no liar! Everything He says must come true. There is no choice. It is impossible for Him to lie. That is an expectation we can count on. We can confidently rely on our God for everything we need. He is not a liar. He is for us and not against us. He is not fickle and did not take a shortcut in terms of paying for our salvation. Does God love us? How could we think otherwise?