Why does God allow it all..? 

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love. (1 John 4:18)” 

I came home from a short trip to get a haircut today. I left my golden retrievers and went to the barber. It took about an hour to get everything done and come back home. When I pulled the truck in the driveway, Raelee, arguably the world’s best “daddy’s girl golden” heard the truck and ran to the door. I could just make out her head bobbing up and down in the window, knowing her dad was back home, exited to get the door open to pounce on me. 
I was gone an hour, but I may as well have been gone for days! That is love and devotion! But would it be real love if she were just some robot dog programmed to react that way? No. It would then just be a toy to tire of. It would be fake, unable to truly love. 

It is all about our choices! God doesn’t ALLOW evil in the world. We do. He doesn’t choose wrong for us. We do. He doesn’t choose suffering for us, we do. 

But He doesn’t want automatons to worship Him either. Love is in the DESIRE to love. God wants us to love Him like He loves US! He loves us so much he became human, suffered and died to show us the way and to provide a means of salvation for us! But it must be our choice to choose Him. If we truly can choose HIM over the world, then our choice is REAL! If we choose HIM over earthly pleasure, over money, over status, over popularity, over other people, then our love for Him is true, faithful and reliable. 

I want people to love me for me, despite any difficulties, hardships, hurts or other things involved. God wants us to choose Him, not be forced to Him. He is a relational God, and true relationships are built on mutual love and mutual choice. 

I choose God, despite any attraction from the world and despite any evil or trouble that tries to get in the way, I choose God!